


The Damned

by alicecrow6



Series: The Damned Family [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Arab Damian Wayne, Arab Mara al Ghul, Aromantic Asexual Jon Kent, Batkids Age Reversal, Bi Maya Ducard, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, F/F, F/M, Gay Damian Wayne, Gay Suren Darga, Indian Maya Ducard, Iranian Suren Darga, Lesbian Mara al Ghul, M/M, Pan Colin Wilkes, Straight Demi Duke Thomas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 23,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26516437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicecrow6/pseuds/alicecrow6
Summary: “Don't sound so surprised. What is family for if not to save one another from a cold lonely grave,” her voice sounds amused on the surface but Damian knew his cousin better than that. Her sadness, desperation, hope, and even, dare he say it, love was on full display for him.But he can not let sentimentalities get in the way of his job as Redwings.“Where is my father?” he asks. Mara’s lip curls in hatred. Her eyes full of righteous fury and Damian wonders what his father had done to warrant such a reaction.“In Gotham, training your replacement,” she says with disgust. Damian feels his heart stutter to a stop. His what?“My- my replacement?”
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Colin Wilkes, Duke Thomas & Damian Wayne, Jon Kent & Colin Wilkes, Jonathan Kent & Damian Wayne & Colin Wilkes, Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne, Mara & Maya & Damian & Suren & Colin & Duke & Jon, Mara al Ghul & Damian Wayne, Mara al Ghul/Maya Ducard, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake, Suren Darga & Maya Ducard & Mara al Ghul & Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne & Colin Wilkes, Suren Darga/Colin Wilkes, Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Tim Drake/Damian Wayne
Series: The Damned Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927984
Comments: 95
Kudos: 215





	1. Chapter 1

Damian Wayne had died three times.

The first time had been when he had been four. A servant had snuck into his chambers and killed the toddler with a steady hand. He was revived in the Lazarus pit a month later.

He had been disoriented and so very scared when he emerged from the green waters. He had wanted comfort from his mama. A warm hug or firm hand on his shoulder. The madness of the pit made the edges of his vision green and Damian had never known a color could be so terrifying.

He dragged himself onto solid ground and coughed up the water still in his lungs. His small body shivered pathetically as he collapsed onto the ground. A hand entered his field of vision and he knew immediately that it was his mama’s hand. Relief shot through his body.

“Mama, mama help,” he coughed weakly. Yet, when he looked up at the woman that had raised him, he saw only eyes filled with disgust.

“Do you know why you died Damian?” she asked lightly. Her frown spoke differently however.

He had died? His mama had brought him back? Was the one that killed him punished?

“Be-because I was killed by a traitor,” Damian stuttered

“No, it was because you didn't protect yourself. Had you taken adequate measures to keep yourself safe I would not have needed to waste so much of my time on my disappointment of a son,” Mama hissed. Damian felt tears well up in his eyes but knew better than to let them fall.

“I- I’m sorry mama. I will do better,” Damian told her.

“See to it that you do” she then turned away without another word. The click-clack of her heels echoing loudly in Damian’s ears.

But then, they stopped. Damian spent a brief moment wondering if she would come back, if he would tell him that she loved him, if she would give him the hug he had longed for since he had first gained awareness.

“Also, you have lost the right to call me Mama. From now on, as a reminder of your disappointment, you shall call me mother,” her voice was dispassionate. It was a blow to Damian’s heart. 

How foolish, Damian thought to himself. How very foolish.

And then mama- no Mother, walked out of the caves, leaving Damian alone. He stared at the stoned floor for what felt like hours but what he knew to be only minutes before he made his shaking limbs stand. He turned to leave in the direction his ma-mother had gone before the eerie light of the pit made him stop.

The color made Damian cringe, faded memories of a place he did not remember itching at him. He wrapped his arms around his torso in an attempt to comfort himself but that only reminded him of the itch outside of his mind. He started to scratch at his body, something was wrong. Something felt wrong. His eyelids ached and every breath burned. His head pounded and his arms scratched up and down his sides, legs, and face. His eyes were still seeing green, so much green. He wanted to pluck his eyes out so he would never be bothered by that green ever again.

Instead of doing that though, he forced his hands to stop. He stumbled out of the caves and pushed himself towards his rooms. 

No one tried to help him, they knew better. 

When he finally entered his room he made special care to drag a knife from his rack and dropped into his bed, hand tightly holding the knife like it was his only lifeline.

He tossed and turned, unable to sleep as he started sweating. A chill racked his body and his four-year-old brain didn't know if he was cold or hot.

When he finally managed to fall to sleep he stayed unconscious for two days. His empty stomach woke him and he started his day like it was any other. He started his day like he wasn't dead just a few days prior.

He ignored the feeling of something being wrong, ignored the green, ignored the itch.

He trained and trained until his limbs were shaking because of something other than the burn they were constantly feeling. He called his mama mother and went to sleep every night with a knife in his hand.

A week passed without incident. Slowly Damian felt himself go back to normal.

Then, one night, much like the one he had died on, a servant entered his chambers. This time though, instead of letting them kill him, he surged forward with his knife.

His aim was true and he struck the heart of the traitor that had dared to ever betray his family.

He would never know it but his mother had sent this particular assassin to finish the job should Damian show himself incapable of learning.

The proud smile on his mother’s face more than made up for his blooded sheets.

She put a firm hand on his shoulder, and it was like for a single moment the itch was silenced.

For years he slowly forgot the feelings that came with being brought back to life, he forgot the feeling of wrong, the green, the itch. Though he never once forgot that he had died at four. The knife he still held tightly in his hand when he went to sleep and the way he called his mama mother was reminder enough.

He forgot the feeling of being dead and then shoved back into his body until he was cruelly once again reminded.

Damian Wayne had died three times. The first had been when he was four. It was a lesson in being prepared. A lesson he would carry for the rest of his days.

It was a lesson that would reward him by his mother’s hand and punish him by his father’s.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time Damian died he was eight. It was a punishment for failure. He had been unsuccessful in terminating his target and so had been punished accordingly. 

He bowed his head before the Demon Head, the picture of submission. He had failed, he deserved this.

“I had thought you skilled enough for a mission of this caliber, I had thought wrong,” his grandfather says with disdain. Damian keeps his head bowed, he knows better than to try to argue against the point. Grandfather was right, he shouldn’t have let anything get in the way of the mission. 

“Simple lashings will not be enough to satisfy my confidence in you again. Instead, I will give you two choices. Either you shall accept a painful death by the hands of your cousin or you shall be replaced as Demon’s Heir and lose all respect from not only your fellow assassins, but also from me,” Damian’s eyes widened and he heard his cousin choke from behind him.

He didn't want to die, he didn't want to die, not again, not after the memories of the green had finally faded. 

But, he couldn't let Mara become heir. She would never survive and he wasn't optimistic enough to believe that they would ever throw her into the pit.

He held no love for his cousin, not truly, but he still held loyalty for her, however small that loyalty was.

He would be brought back, of that he had no doubt. 

“I accept your terms,” Damian said, his words unwavering despite the clenching of his stomach.

His grandfather nodded towards someone behind him and Damian felt a small, thin hand cup his shoulder.

“Come along cousin, we have much fun awaiting us,” Mara hisses in his ear. Damian tenses but does not allow his cousin’s words to make him waver.

She would not thank him for this, of that he had no doubt, but he would do it nonetheless.

The two walk towards the torture chambers and a group of assassins follow, witnesses who would later relay what happened to the Demon Head. Mara chains Damian up without a word of his protest and the assassins wait a few feet away.

“You can not comprehend how much I have wanted to scar your ‘pretty’ face like you had marred mine,” she spits. Her words of loathing weigh heavy in Damian’s gut but he holds his head high and his gaze steady, all but ignoring her declarations of hatred.

“Perhaps we shall match cousin mine,” Damian sneers. A sudden stinging of his check let him know that Mara had slapped him. Blood pools inside his mouth as he realizes that he bit himself.

He grins up at her, his teeth stained red and she flinches back at the sight. Damian feels a sliver of guilt that he quickly pushes down. The girl was going to torture and kill him! She had no need for his guilt.

He spits out the blood from his mouth, taking care not to let a drop of it hit her in the process.

And so, it begins. He stays silent for most of it but nearing the end of the three-hour mark of nonstop pain a whimper escapes his mouth. The sound stops her, an uncertain look entering her face but Damian can not let her stop until he’s dead. He can not let Ra’s suspect her to be weak.

He glares up at her, his face the picture of defiance and she quickly gets back into the rhythm of hurting him.

If her movements were a little more gentle and his eyes a bit more kind, well that was between the two of them.

In one breath he closes his eyes, and in the next breath, he stops.

He awakens with a gasp. Water enters his mouth and he breathes it down. He coughs and sputters as the green waters of the pit burn their way down his throat.

He eventually makes his way out of the pit, retching up the liquid stuck in his lungs. He curls onto himself and closes his eyes as the itch returns.

Whispers curl into his ears and he clasps his hands against his head in an effort to make it all stop. 

His skin feels too tight for him, his lungs burn, his head pounds louder and louder until it's all he could do not to bash his brain against the floor to make it all stop.

A foot enters his field of vision and he drags his eyes up from the floor to try and see who it was, his vision blurry and unseeing.

A hand hesitantly reaches towards his hair and he relaxes against the motion, his eyes closing as fingers stroke his hair.

The whispers of the pit are silenced for a moment.

Then the hand is roughly torn away and a whine of protest leaves his lips. The hand does not stay, however. They leave him in the dark cavern only illuminated by the glow of the Lazarus waters.


	3. Chapter 3

Colin met Damian Wayne when he was 12. He first came across the other boy while he was in the middle of investigating a case of missing street kids from the Narrow. A few of his buddies had disappeared without a trace and Colin decided that it seemed like the perfect job for Abuse.

He sneaked out of the orphanage and set out on his way.

It was while he was out by the docks that he met Damian. The boy had something about him that made Colin stand on edge. Something about him seemed dangerous, seemed dark.

“I’m Damian,” how appropriate Colin had thought at the time. How appropriate that his name should be one associated with the Devil.

Colin wasn't particularly religious but he had still been raised by nuns, had still been raised in a church.

Looking back on it he can't help but shake his head in how absolutely stupid he had been.

“I wasn't originally going to shoot him but then he said I couldn't so then I had too” Damian whined into Colin’s shoulder. Colin patted his back sympathetically and regretted every choice that led him to this outcome. This outcome is a very drunk Damian Wayne in his lap, crying. 

Damian was going to kill him when he sobered up.

Why did he have to befriend the weird rich kid? Why couldn't he just have let enough alone? 

“Alfred says it’s the thought that matters and I thought I wasn't going to shoot him so why is father so mad?” Damian wailed loudly.

Colin winced at the nose, his ears throbbing.

“You know- you know I died one right?” Colin had not known that.

“Well, no that's not true. I died twice” Damian holds up three fingers proudly. He then frowns at his fingers in confusion before using his other hand to physically drag one of the extra fingers down.

God, he loved Damian like he was his brother, but why did he have to be such a dumbass?

“Did you know I’m Redwings?” Damian whispers/yells into his face.

“Yes, Damian,” Colin says with suffering.

“Good, 'cause you're my best friend and I don't want to hide anything from my best friend” oh that was adorable. Colin denied that any of the warmth in his chest was from that really sweet confession. It was clearly because Damian was a goddamn fucking heater.

Colin kind of ignored the rest of the words leaving his best friend's mouth until something caught his attention due to sheer ridiculousness.

“Henceforth, I shall be called Deadwings,” Damian said proudly.

“No” Colin let his head drop onto Damian’s shoulder. 

Regrets, so many regrets.

“Damian,” a voice says disappointedly. Colin groggily looks up, only to be met with the face of a very let down Bruce Wayne.

Panic immediately irrupts. He doesn't even look away as he shakes Damian’s shoulder frantically.

“Five more minutes,” Damian says pathetically. Unfortunately, Colin has no pity left to give after last night's exhausting display.

He shakes harder.

“Oh my god you absolute hoe, fine!” Damian shouts, finally lifting his head from the pillow and immediately zeroing in on Bruce.

He turns to look at Colin, a look of absolute betrayal on his face.

“What the fuck Colin,” Damian states angrily.

“I’m not the one who called him over” Colin defends angrily.

“Damian, enough. It’s time to go home, you're grounded” Bruce interrupts.

“For what? Hanging out with my only friend? Something you're always going on about that I should do?” Damian narrows his eyes at the morning sun, trying to glare at his father but failing.

“I’m your only friend?” Colin asks, genuinely curious.

“Fuck off” 

“Language” Bruce sighs.

“Whatever, not the point. The point is that you not only went out without permission-”

“I asked Alfred you uncultured swine” Damian cuts in.

“Without my permission” Bruce corrects, his voice furious.

“How about we talk again when I'm drunk out of my mind so that I don't understand the garbage that spews out of that trashcan you call a mouth” Damian spits out.

Colin feels like a spectator to a gladiator fight that can only end in one way.

He’s cheering for Damian but God knows he’s not going to win this.

“Get up,” Bruce says with a deceptive kind of calm that makes all of Colin’s warning bells ring. Damian clearly feels the same because he gets up without comment.

He gives Colin a nod of goodbye but follows his father out of the garage.

He sees Damian a few days later covered in bruises. Normally that would be fine, Damian’s a vigilante, he gets hurt all the time. But the thing that tips him off is that there's none on his face.

Colin would have been less suspicious if he had a black eye but no, his face is bruise-free and his stomach is black and blue.

He looks like one of the kids in the Narrows.

Damian doesn't say a word about it and Colin, Colin doesn't either.

Colin doesn't know why he never spoke up about how Damian was clearly being abused. Maybe it was because he was trying to be a good friend, maybe it was because he didn't want to jump to conclusions, maybe it was because he didn't want to believe it.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter anymore.

Damian was dead, his best friend was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

Jon crashed into Damian’s heart like most things did. With a single-minded focus not to be shut out. Colin had been the same, Duke was also trying his hardest to employ this method but so far Damian held strong.

Jon, on the other hand, had been completely out of left field. Damian had simply wished to train the 10-year-old so that he didn't accidentally kill someone with his powers. For some reason, his father had neglected to do so even when it showed that such a decision was a detriment to Jon’s wellbeing. Emotional as well as physical.

Damian had spent months preparing for such a task by watching every video he could get his hands on with the man of steel. He observed his fighting style, his powers, his character, and even his diet. 

He read every note his father had made about the man and even hacked his father’s servers to overlook his contingency plans against the alien in case he went evil.

By the end of his research spree, he had come to three very important conclusions.

One, Jon and his father’s diet was doing more harm to them than good. They were definitely missing a vital vitamin. How had he found this out? They were aliens from a different planet, it would be stupid to assume that they eat the same things that humans eat. Damian assumed that the only reason that the two were alive was because of the earth’s sun.

Two, Superman had absolutely no fighting style and the only reason he was able to defeat his enemies is because of his powers. This left a bitter taste in Damian’s mouth and he resolved to make sure that Kent Jr. didn't turn out like his old man in that regard.

And finally three, it was a very real possibility that Jon’s powers might actually become stronger then his father’s in the future. Already when comparing the strength of 10-year-old Jon and 10-year-old Clark showed a very terrifying difference in power. Now, this was all speculation. It could be that in the video ten-year-old Clark had been holding back. But it really hadn't looked like it.

“Move your hand closer to your chest, you're leaving an opening,” Damian tells Jon harshly. Jon scowled at him before complying.

The two work for two hours on Jon’s fighting technique before moving on to powers. 

Jon had a firm grip on flying and a looser grip on his strength but his freeze breath was inconsistent and his laser eyes were still uncontrollable for now. Damian made Jon fly drills and gave him tasks that required different levels of strength. Jon wasn't allowed to exert more strength then what was exactly needed. Jon though both were stupid but couldn't deny that they had helped greatly in controlling his flight and strength. 

Freeze breath and laser eyes were still harder to figure out but Damian was determined.

And finally, at the end of their sessions, Jon would give Damian some of his hair and some of his spit. 

Damian would use these to map out Jon’s biology, trying to figure what was missing from Jon’s diet. Every time he found a new and interesting discovery he’d hurry to Jon and tell him. He had files upon files on Kryptonian biology.

Damian’s pretty sure that he has one of the best understanding of Kryptonian biology other than Lex Luther. But that was only a matter of time, eventually, he would overcome Lex’s knowledge. After all, Damian had a willing subject that he had 24/7 access to while Luther could only content himself with the occasional DNA he was able to extract at their most recent fight.

“So do you have any friends?”

“Yes,” Damian answered shortly. He was currently overlooking a research paper on kryptonite. He was getting kind of desperate for a solution to Jon’s dietary problem.

“Really?” Jon asked doubtfully

“Yes,” Damian said distractedly, turning the page. God, this was so factually incorrect. Who even wrote this?

“Who are they?” Jon asked.

“You and Colin” Damian’s eyebrows furrowed as the writer went on a tangent about the amazing Lex Luther. Someone was a fan, Damian thought with humor.

“You- you consider me a friend?” Jon’s question broke him through his thoughts and brought him back to reality.

“Well I can hardly say you're not when you’ve wormed your gremlin self into my life,” Damian said dryly.

“Hey! I’m not the one that crash-landed into your life!” Jon said in mock defense, a smile stealing over his face.

“No, you just extended your welcome,” Damian smirked. He put down the papers and gave Jon his entire attention.

“I’m pretty sure you're talking about yourself right now” Jon mused.

“Shut up,” Damian rolled his eyes. His instincts tugging at him insistently that someone was watching them. 

Damian discreetly looked around for the source of his paranoia.

There! Behind the trees at the edge of the clearing! 

Superman?

“So, where do you want to go for our next hangout?” Damian asked. It was a code for if one of them caught on to the fact that one of their parents were watching. 

Jon quickly caught on.

“Maybe that new arcade? Or a park?” Arcade for Batman and park for Superman. Jon was asking which parent was there.

“Hm, park for sure. We went to the arcade last time” Damian stretches out, his movement casual but his eyes searching.

“Cool, see you later. Same time?” Jon asked, picking up his backpack. The two had been out in the clearing so that no one would see them but the problem with such a decision was that it took a while to get back to the main roads.

Damian picked up his papers and put them into his bag. He waved Jon goodbye and started on his trek home. As he walked he noticed that Superman was following him. 

Lovely.

By the time he reached the car, he was thoroughly done with the alien. God, this was why Jon was his favorite extraterrestrial.

“Hello Pennyworth,” Damian nodded his head respectfully. 

Damian had gained a lot of respect for the man these past few months. Recently it felt like he was the only adult that was on his side.

Damian would have been able to do these meetups without Alfred’s help. His father would have forbidden it and locked him down in the cave for even daring to have individual thought.

Alfred, on the other hand, had been delighted to know that Damian was making more friends and had promised to not only keep it from his father but to also help him hide it.

“Hello Master Damian, productive meeting with Mr. Kent?” Alfred raised an eyebrow at Damian’s unusually frustrated mood. Normally Damian came back looser and more relaxed.

"We had to cut our meeting short because I remembered that father had requested my presence" Damian explains.

Alfred tilted his head. He knew without a doubt that Bruce had not requested Damian’s presence. He quickly caught on that they were being followed.

“I see, very well, we best be off then,” Alfred said in good humor.

Two days later Damian was helping Alfred in the kitchen while father and Thomas “spared” in the cave. 

Damian’s lip curled in disgust. What those two did was hardly sparing. Father was far too gentle with the boy.

“So, out of Mr. Kent and Mr. Wilkes who do you enjoy the company of more?” Alfred asked mischievously. Damian glared playfully at the man.

“What kind of question is that?” the left corner of Damian’s lip quirked up.

“One of utmost importance,” Alfred said seriously, his act only betrayed by the amusement in his eyes.

“Tt, surely there are more important ones?” Damian deadpanned.

“Nothing is more important than knowing about my grandson,” Alfred hit the back of Damian’s head gently and Damian just grinned up at him.

“Well, Colin is my best friend-” Damian started.

“Poor Jon,” Alfred said in mock sympathy. Damian gave Alfred a look.

“Wait, I’m not finished. Colin is my best friend and Jon is my other half. They both are equally important to me but in different ways. Colin was my first friend and showed me the value of companionship and Jon makes me feel whole, like I was missing something that has just been returned to me,” Damian tries to explain, his voice growing frustrated as the words he wanted to say escaped him.

“So you have a crush on Mr. Kent?”

“Oh, ew no,” Damian’s face took a look of utter disgust at the idea.

Alfred humored the boy and moved onto a new topic.

The two spent the rest of the day together.


	5. Chapter 5

His father was kind. Kind in the way his mother had been. The only adults kinder was Ravi. Though he doubted that anyone could ever be as pure-hearted as Ravi.

“Suit up, your mother’s back in town and I doubt it’s for a family reunion,” his father jokes slightly. Damian felt a grin of delight reach his face but he forced it down and instead smirked.

“Maybe she’s decided to scout out brighter pastures,” Damian laces up his boots and gets started with his cape. He was the vigilante Redwings, partner to Batman, better than Signal.

Signal, he had mixed feelings on the boy his father had taken in before him. Duke was a year younger physically but mentally it was like he was both more and less mature than him.

It grated on Damian.

A hand snaked around his shoulders and he bore the indignity with grace.

“So, your mom’s back in town eh? You think she’s going to try and convince you to come home?”

“This is my home,” he growled at the other boy. How dare he even imply the idea that he could be convinced. Had he not shown his loyalty? His drive? His will?

Duke raised his arms in a pacifying manner that only made Damian angrier. He resisted the urge to hit the other boy. Father would be enraged if he did. 

Damian hushed the voice that wondered not for the first time if his father loved this nobody more than his own blood son.

“No need to get mad Redwings, I’m just trying to get the conversation flowing,” Duke tries to reason. Damian spins around and walks away, he had better things to do than converse with the unworthy. The boy only had his loyalty because he was a comrade in his father’s crusade against crime. As soon as he stepped out of line Damian would be there with a sword against his neck.

The three soon left the safety of the cave and moved towards where reports had stated his mother was.

Damian had been with his father for two years before he picked up Signal. Two glorious years with his father’s undivided attention (that was a lie, his father was more focused on taking care of Gotham than he would ever be of taking care of Damian). It had been a year since they had taken in Duke Thomas and Damian hated that he had to share his father more than he had already been doing.

His father asked Duke how school was, if he needed help with his homework, if he was tired, if he was injured, if he didn't want to go on patrol. 

Bruce had never asked such questions of Damian. But of course he didn't, that just meant that his Father thought more highly of Damian. That he knew that Damian did not need to be coddled.

So what if he wasn't asked useless questions about mundane things. Duke Thomas may have had Bruce Wayne, but Damian had Batman.

That was of course until even that was stolen from him.

No matter how many complaints he made to his father about how Duke did not have the proper training, how the boy would only be a liability, how he would hold them down, his father would not listen.

His father would call him jealous, a brat, a child that shouldn't question his father.

Well, look where it got them now. 

Damian bleeding out on the floor because he took a stab in the chest from his own clone to save the life of a boy he didn't even like.

Pathetic.

“Damian, Damian- uh hold on, just hold on a second. Please don't die- oh my god please don't die” Duke panicked from above him.

“Code names idiot,” Damian gasped out. He choked a little and wondered where his father was. Why wasn't his father here? Did he not at least deserve his notice now? Could he not finally have his undivided attention now that he was dying? Was Gotham truly that much more important that you can’t ever look away for even a second?

His father was a kind man, his father was like Ravi. 

But that was a lie, Ravi would have been here with him if he knew he was dying.

He choked on a laugh and watched Duke panic as he lost more and more blood. At least someone was there to watch him go. At least someone was there.

“Signal, I order you to take care of my animals. Alfred is an amazing man but even he can not handle such a duty in his old age. I order you to help Alfred with the groceries. He goes every friday and always buys more than he can carry. I order you to try and get father to sleep every three nights. I will not blame you if you can not succeed in this task, greater men have failed. And finally, I order you to train more. Your hand to hand is pathetic and I refuse to die for you only to have you join me a few months later,” Damian’s voice is firm but his eyes start to blur and he doesn't hear what Duke says next. He’ll assume it was an agreement, the boy did owe him after all.

He awakes with a gasp. The green waters rush to greet him and Damian knows better by now than to let them in.

A hand plunges into the water and pulls him up. It heaves him up and he falls on to the floor. He coughs and sputters. Trying to dispel the water that had entered his lungs.

Someone saving him from the pits was new. It had never happened before now. He wondered what had caused the sudden change.

“Hello cousin,” a familiar voice says next to his ear. He tenses, his limbs still shaking wildly from the itch.

“Mara?” he rasps. The question was filled with confusion, hope, happiness, and a type of loyalty he had thought he had gotten rid of three years prior.

“Don't sound so surprised. What is family for if not to save one another from a cold lonely grave,” her voice sounds amused on the surface but Damian knew his cousin better than that. Her sadness, desperation, hope, and even, dare he say it, love was on full display for him.

But he can not let sentimentalities get in the way of his job as Redwings.

“Where is my father?” he asks. Mara’s lip curls in hatred. Her eyes full of righteous fury and Damian wonders what his father had done to warrant such a reaction.

“In Gotham, training your replacement,” she says with disgust. Damian feels his heart stutter to a stop. He’s what?

“My- my replacement?”

“Not even three months after your death Batman adopted another worthless worm and dressed him in your colors. He goes by the name Redwings without shame as though he had not stolen it from the corpse of his better,” Mara spits out. Damian spends a quick moment of warmth for his cousin who was angry at his behalf before his own fury overtakes him.

The itch returns, the green takes over, and the whispers start shouting. He burns and burns and burns.

Throughout it all his cousin holds him but he can not focus on her when his entire world is on fire.

Hours go by and Mara’s arms must be tired but she holds him still.

“Why did you save me?” Damian asks in despair, his sanity returning, and with it his rage and anguish.

“Because if nothing else we are loyal. That has been our one saving grace beneath the hatred we call a bond. I am loyal to you just as you are loyal to me. I will save you from a hundred lonely graves just as you will save me from ever being lowered in one” her voice is firm, her words a vow.

Damian, someone who had given his life to his father’s cause only to be paid in betrayal, can not help but want.

He knows Mara, he knows her intensity is only matched by his own. And for once, maybe he wishes that he could be loved as fiercely as he loved.

“I missed you cousin, I missed how we would spar, I missed how we would try to kill each other, I missed how we would paint together, I missed how no one else would question my worth while you were around, I missed making music with you, I missed how we would steal from one another as our own form of training, I missed setting up lethal traps for you and knowing you’d still be fine the next day, I missed hating you, I missed loving you, I missed you. Did you miss me too, cousin mine?” Mara asks, says, begs. 

And Damian? Damian answers.

“I missed your voice, I missed how you would whisper derisive comments to me about those around us, I missed going on missions with you, I missed knowing that even if you aimed a knife at my back I could still trust you, I missed going to you about minor inconveniences, I missed asking about your day, I missed training with you, I missed how you were the only one that could truly understand me, I missed hating you, I missed loving you, I missed you,” Damian confesses, a fact he had kept close to his heart. He didn't miss much from his time with the league but god did he miss Mara. he would sometimes wake up and wish she was there with a snarky, hateful comment about how weak he was.

“Then join me cousin mine, join me as we take revenge on all those who forsake us, for all those who betrayed us,” the promise of companionship was enough to make Damian want to cry. But he didn't. Instead, he nodded his head in agreement and felt Mara stroke her fingers through his head.


	6. Chapter 6

Jon met Damian when he was 10. The older boy had taken one look at him and decided he needed “training” or whatever.

Jon rather thought the older boy just wanted more friends. That was okay, Jon didn't have many friends either.

He just wished the older boy was less rude. And less arrogant. And less likely to stab a random person for jaywalking.

The last one had been a close thing.

He would also appreciate it if he didn't have to hide their friendship.

His parents thought he was sneaking out to go on dates with his “boyfriend”

Damian told him that he was currently one of the only people in the world that know who Batman and Redwings were under their masks. Which was awesome, but also really troublesome. Exhibit a, his mom and dad thinking Damian was his boyfriend.

Jon’s parents had given him progressively more and more obvious hints that they would absolutely support him when he came out to them. At this point, Jon was sure they were genuinely considering kissing someone of their own sex in front of him to get it across. It was kinda sweet. 

Just one problem with it. He didn't like boys. Or girls. Or anyone really.

Not like that anyway.

The school counselor said that he was young and his mind was still developing and that one day for sure he’d feel all the things his classmates felt.

Damian, on the other hand, sat him down and gave him a crash course on asexuality. He said that he might not be asexual but better safe than sorry, that no one deserved to think they were all alone.

Okay, maybe Damian wasn't too bad. Maybe he didn't mind that Damian was rude because it really highlighted the times he was kind. Maybe he didn't mind that Damian was arrogant because most of the time he kinda deserved to be. And maybe he didn't even mind that Damian had almost shanked a man for jaywalking. Hindsight it was absolutely hilarious.

These things still bother him from time to time, but at this point, he kind of got used to them. They were just another part of Damian.

“Get up Kent, we’ve got a mission”

Jon always felt like the world was too loud. When his powers came in it just got worse. Suddenly the world got magnified to the extreme and he was drowning in it’s sounds.

He could barely leave his bed. 

His dad didn't know what was wrong with him since his own powers had always been there, just in the background. Jon, unfortunately, got all his powers at once and was dealing with the fallout.

That’s how Damian found him a few days later.

Jon hadn't even noticed him over the sound of everything else. 

“Jon” Damian whispered softly.

Somehow, that whisper was enough to give Jon just a moment's release. But as soon as it came it left. He cried out in pain and Damian backed away.

But Jon couldn't let Damian leave, not when he had been so close to release.

“Keep- keep talking. Please keep talking,” Jon begged. Damian paused before hesitantly getting closer.

“It helps when you focus on my voice?”

“yes” Jon said with extreme certainty.

“I see, very well. Until you are able to pull yourself together I shall recite the stunning new thesis of Lex Luther. You know him as your father’s primary villain but he is also a renowned-”

And so Damian’s words dulled the noise of everything else. Jon focused only on Damian. On his voice, on his breathing, on his heartbeat. His world narrowed down to one point and Jon knew that this was probably the closest thing he’d ever have to silence.

When Damian eventually left, Jon didn't stop hearing him. All the way to Gotham he heard Damian’s muttered insults, his hissed death threats, his cape flapping in the wind. He could hear his body flying through the air, his fist hitting the side of some mugger’s face, his bone popping out of place.

Jon smiled, he had an idea.

Not even a week later and it was like everything was back to normal. Clark and Lois had no clue what was going on with Jon but as long as he was alright Jon knew that they would ignore it.

He talked to his classmates, answered pointed questions from his teachers, and joked around with his parents at dinner.

What no one knew though was that while he was sitting and smiling along with them, he was also letting a familiar heartbeat drown out the rest of the world.

Jon woke up one night with his head on too tight. 

Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? Why was everything so loud? 

Jon couldn’t breathe.

It had been three months since the world became too big. Three months since he last heard his best friend's heartbeat. Three months since he’d last left his bed.

He couldn't get up, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but strain his ears for hours on end, hoping desperately to hear that wonderful, wonderful, heartbeat.

Jon knew that he could change his focus point. That he could listen to his mother or father or even another one of his friends.

But to do so would be to admit that Damian was dead, that his other half was dead.

Because that's what Damian was, he was the other half of his soul.

The first time he told his mother that she told him that he was still young, that he still had plenty of time to find a new boyfriend.

But that wasn't what Damian was. Damian wasn't something like his lover, he was his partner, his friend, his other half. Romance was nothing compared to the bond that they had, nothing compared to the feeling of being whole that they shared when with one another.

To equate their relationship as romantic was to do a disservice to the hard-earned platonic love that they shared.

Jon sat up suddenly, his body struggling to comply with his mind. 

He- he could hear it!

Damian, Damian was alive!

Jon heard the familiar beating fill his ears and he cradled the sound closely. It had been so long that he had almost thought he had forgotten.

Jon got out of bed, stumbling and weakened from the lack of activity.

Jon fell to the floor and felt himself crawl to the door. He just needed to get out of the house, he just needed to get to Damian before he disappeared again. 

The sun on his face gave him just the strength he needed to push himself to his legs.

He stood on shaky knees, took a deep breath, and flew. He had a heartbeat to follow.


	7. Chapter 7

Tim Drake was a replacement. He knew this to the very marrow of his bones.

He wasn't the great Damian Wayne whose shadow lingered in every corner of the manor. No, he was just Timmy, the replacement.

He could find Damian’s presence wherever he looked. From the library to the Batcave, he was everywhere. 

Whether that was in the form of a heavily annotated book detailing all the reasons the author was wrong, or in the form of a torn and dirty uniform displayed for all to see with the simple inscription of “The Good Soldier”

Duke had raged the first time he had seen it. He had screamed that Damian deserved more than that. Bruce had held strong though, he shut Duke down and said that he knew his son better than Duke did, that Damian would have appreciated this more than any flowery words.

It was the second time Tim had met Duke and he had been terrified. 

A few weeks later and Duke had returned with an apology directed only towards Tim. He expressed his regret for making him witness his and Bruce’s drama. Tim had accepted and the two had gotten along since.

Still, it didn't change the fact that there was always a specter hanging over Tim’s head. Always something telling him that he wasn’t welcomed.

He wasn't bitter though, he asked for this, he knew this would happen. 

Damian Wayne, Bruce’s blood son, Duke’s brother, Alfred’s grandson, and most importantly, the former Redwings.

He was everything Tim had ever wanted to be and more. He was a legend, a hero, a legacy.

A legacy that was now Tim’s. Bruce hadn’t wanted to give him the mantle, hadn't wanted to make him Redwings, but he knew Tim was right, that he needed a Redwings to his Batman. Duke wasn't enough, not when he only patrolled during the day, not when he wasn't really Bruce’s responsibility.

But Tim? Tim was untrained and completely dependent on the man. This made Bruce more careful, more gentle, less violent.

Because that had been the problem, Bruce had gotten too violent in the aftermath of Damian’s death.

So Tim had forced his way in, determined to fix things.

“Hey squirt,” a familiar voice says from behind him. He turns around to meet the warm gaze of one Duke Thomas.

“Hey Duke,” he says with a slight grin.

“Whatcha doing?” Duke askes, curiosity glinting in his eyes.

“Reading” he was not reading. 

Till Duke had interrupted him he had just been staring at the wall.

“Don't get all sarcastic on me,” Duke brings a hand down on Tim’s head and messes his hair up. Tim makes a sound of protest.

“Me? Never. I’m an angel” Tim puts on his most innocent smile. Duke snorts, shaking his head in disbelief.

“More, like a little shit” Duke mutters.

“Slander!” Tim jumps to his feet and points wildly at Duke.

“It can't be considered slander if it’s true,” Duke says with a smile.

“Oh yeah? Where’s your proof?” Tim smirks as though he’s already won.

“Would you like me to list them out alphabetically or from the most recent?” Duke asks, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Bah humbug!”

“Tim, Timmy, Timbers, you can't just say bah humbug whenever something slightly displeases you, that’s not how things work” Duke snorts, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

“That’s what you think,” Tim says with an air of arrogance. It quickly dispels however when the two give in to their laughter.

Eventually, their conversation sputters out into silence. Tim tugs at his sleeves and wonders how to breach the next step of the conversation.

“Can you tell me about him? About Damian, I mean” Tim asks. 

Duke doesn't say anything for a few minutes and Tim wonders if he’s messed up by bringing Damian into the conversation. He opens his mouth to retract his question but is beaten by the sound of Duke’s voice.

“He- uh, he was, gosh, he was intense. He was really intense. Sometimes it felt like he was looking into your soul and found you lacking. He was harsh and mean and a complete dick, but- but he was also strangely gentle, you know? Like, Titus and Batcow and Alfred the cat were all his pets. He loved them, he was constantly taking care of whatever sick animal had made its way onto the manor property,” here Duke pauses, he clears his throat and drapes a hand over his eyes.

“He used to help Alfred with the chores, he was a vegetarian, he was a strict teacher that demanded perfection, he had this weird verbal tic, he was the model son in social events even though he hated them. Damian didn't go to school because the one time Bruce tried to force him he convinced three teachers to quit and made seven students have a mental breakdown,” here Duke gives a wet chuckle.

“His last words to me were that I was shit at combat and he’d be really angry at me if I died a few months after him because of it,” Tim makes a face.

“Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a saint. He’d push you down the stairs one day and then catch you before you fell on another. He was confusing is what he was, but, well, he was still my brother,” he uncovers his eyes and looks down at Tim.

“Do you think he would like me?” Tim asks shyly. Duke hums.

“Do you want the truth?” His eyes hold Tim hostage and Tim already knows the answer. He still needs to hear it though.

“Yeah” 

“He’d hate you. He’d hate that you stole his legacy. He’d hate that you took his place a mere few months after he died. He’d hate that your presence makes it seem like he was nothing,”

“But Bruce loved him, I wouldn't need to be here if that weren't the case,” Tim says vehemently.

“Yeah, but Bruce was shit at showing it. He was constantly suspicious of Damian and didn't try to hide it. He barely gave him any attention. Bruce isn't mourning Damian, he’s mourning the missed opportunities ” Duke shrugs.

“That’s not true, Bruce loved Damian” Tim’s voice is suddenly a lot less sure.

“I’m not saying that you're wrong, I’m just saying that Bruce is more guilty then sad,” Duke stood up and left, a mirthless smile on his lips and an apologetic look in his eyes, like he didn't completely upend Tim’s entire world.


	8. Chapter 8

Damian looked down at the place that held his greatest regrets, Al Ghul island. 

“Land Goliath,” Damian ordered.

The dragon bat hit the ground with a thump that made Damian’s grip tighten.

One of Mara’s spies reported that Morgan Ducard had been seen snooping around yesterday. Mara predicted that he had been hired by his mother to steal something from the bunker. 

Something from his year of blood.

Damian slid off the dragon bat and took out a torch. He walked down to the bunker and opened the sealed door. Time to see what had been taken.

He entered the long-abandoned room, his steps heavy with guilt.

Damian Wayne would have felt ashamed as he looked upon this room. 

Hafid al Ghul would have felt pride.

Damian al Ghul feels nothing but regret.

He takes a deep breath before starting his search.

Then, he finally notices it. The stone guardian’s head that he had stolen was missing.

Damian felt his eyebrows furrow.

What could his mother possibly want with such a thing?

Damian turned around, closed the bunker back up, and left.

He needed to hunt down a Nobody.

He had Goliath fly over the boat before jumping off and landing gracefully on the deck.

Bullets immediately start flying.

Damian kicks up a table and ducks under it.

He takes out his sword and holds it steady as he considers where Nobody might have been.

The bullets had come from the west but Nobody could have already moved.

That invisible suit of his was going to be a bitch to counter.

Damian subconsciously moves to the right as a fist hits the table he had been hiding behind. Damian didn't waste a second to cut the hand with his sword.

Watching as the suddenly visible limb fell to the ground with a wet slosh was pleasing to Damian’s eyes. The scream of pain and rage that came afterward were not pleasing to Damian’s ears.

Damian didn't bother waiting for the man to regain his bearings, he simply located the sound and cut the man’s head off.

Huh, that was easier than he thought.

Honestly, it would have been easier if the man had continued his attack from far away with bullets rather than try his luck up close. Must have gotten cocky.

Damian whistled and not a moment later was answered with the sound of Goliath’s wings.

Damian searches the boat until he finds the stone head.

He looks consideringly at it, thought uncurling in his head.

Damian takes out his communicator and calls Mara. He only has to wait a few seconds before he’s answered

“Was the mission a success?” Mara asks immediately. Her focus on the rebellion first and foremost, Damian thought fondly.

“Yes. Nobody had stolen a stone guardian’s head that I had collected during my year of blood” Damian explains.

“Do you know why?” Mara asks.

“No, I killed him before asking” Damian shrugs, an apologetic smile on his face.

“Damian,” Mara sighed.

“I will not be coming home today,” Damian says instead of replying.

“what?”

“In fact, I will not be coming back this year at all” Damian continues.

“What?”

“Maybe less if I’m fast enough” he picks up the head and starts to carry it to the upper deck.

“What? No stop. You just got back! It’s barely been two months and you already want to leave? Want to go back to Gotham and your family?” Mara spits out the word family like it was poison.

Damian’s expression softens at her anger.

“No, it’s not about Gotham, it’s about the year of blood,” Damian says gently.

“I- I don't understand” Mara blinks in confusion.

“And I’m very glad you don't. You’ve never had to do the Year of Blood, but I did. I spent a year destabilizing and killing and stealing and ruining people's lives. A year of unchecked bloodshed. The Year of Blood is my greatest regret, the stain upon my soul. I can not stare at my mistakes in the face and simply ignore them anymore. I need to fix this because if I don't I will never move past it. Please, Mara, a single year is all I ask to right my wrongs,” Damian looks away from the screen before making himself face his cousin properly.

“I will come with you” was Mara’s immediate reply.

“You do not deserve to carry the weight of my sins dear cousin. Besides, you forget that I know you. I know that you will constantly worry about the rebellion. I can not in good conscience allow you to risk not only your life but also your enjoyment for me,” Damian retorts.

The two go back and forth for a while before Mara admits defeat.

“Very well. But you will contact me once a week to inform me of your progress. That way I’ll know that you haven't died while I wasn't looking” Mara says sternly. 

Damian nods his head in agreement and the two log off.

Now, how to get the head off the boat without Goliath landing on the boat and sinking everything.

Damian sighs in despair.

Today was going to be a long day.


	9. Chapter 9

“Again” 

“Please, please let me stop”

“Again”

“Mercy, father mercy”

“Again” 

Again, again, again, again, again

It didn't matter how many times Maya completed her father’s tasks, it was never enough, never good enough, never fast enough, never skilled enough.

“Get up my strong Rakshasi,” her Mama's voice teased lightly in Maya’s head. It gave Maya the strength she needed to move.

Maya got up on shaky legs and slowly moved towards her room. She stumbled slightly on the last step but was quick to catch herself on the door.

She was so tired.

She moved her injured body onto the bed and lowered herself gently. It took no more than a moment for her to fall into slumber.

The next morning came and with it a noticeable absence of her father.

Maya stood outside, feeling the sun warm her face and the wind lightly ruffle her hair.

It had been so long since she had had an uninterrupted morning to herself. Her father would usually grab her by the hair and pull her inside to finish her training by now.

“Om bhur bhuva swaha  
Tat savitur varenyam  
Bhargo devasya dhimahi  
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat”

The words were heavy on her tongue and hard to remember but left her feeling weightless. 

It was the first sanskrit mama had taught her.

She felt tears prickle at her eyes. How long had it been since she had last seen her mama?

She wiped her eyes before the tears had a chance to fall.

Crying would do her no good now.

She entered the kitchen and looked through the cabinets, searching for today's breakfast.

Today was Wednesday which meant no meat. She grabbed a box of cereal and poured it into a bowl. She looked distrustfully at a carton of milk before deciding not to risk it. She didn't recognize the brand and knowing her father he probably bought it specifically because the cow had been killed afterward. 

Looks like today was a no milk with cereal day.

She finished her breakfast before 

The apartment was temporary. Just until her father finished with his current job with the league.

Maya moved to her room and started with her stretches.

Her father would be very cross with her if she had neglected her training while he was gone.

It had been a week since her father had left. Maya was starting to come to the unnerving conclusion that something had happened. 

There were only two options now. One, wait until either her father returned or she got kicked out of the apartment because she hasn't paid rent. Or two, go out and look for him.

Maya wasn’t a pussy, she was clearly going to go and look for him.

She packed some essentials into a bag and put on her Nobody suit. She stood just behind the door that separated her from the outside world.

Maya wasn't a pussy, she wasn't, but the idea of being all alone in the world was still a daunting one.

“Buddhir Balam Yasho Dhairyam Nirbhayatvam Arogataam Ajaaddyam Vaak Pattutvam Ca Hanumat Smarannaat Bhavet” Maya said softly to herself. A prayer for bravery.

The words filled her with confidence and she firmly grabbed the handle of the door, ready to face the outside.

He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead, He was dead

“Daddy*” Maya cried, her tears being washed away by the rain.

How?

It had been a simple job.

No, wait, it had been for the league and league jobs were never simple.

Someone had killed her father.

Someone had killed her father and with him the only family she had left.

Fuck that, no, Maya refused.

Her father may not have been the kindest but he was still her father. Still, the person that taught her everything she knew.

Someone had killed her father but Maya would have her revenge, one way or another.

Maya looks at the last recording on her father’s mask.

“Damian al Ghul” Maya spits out hatefully. Everyone had said that the al Ghul heir had died three years ago, but the rumors were clearly exaggerated.

“Get up my strong Rakshasi,” her mama's voice teased lightly in Maya’s head.

Maya tracked her father’s killer to al Ghul island. An abandoned military base was used mercilessly in the al Ghul power struggle. It had eventually become useless and was abandoned. Damian al Ghul clearly did not care seeing as he was still using it.

It was kind of poetic that the once thought to be a useless island and the once thought to be a dead boy would be together like this.

“Gear up, Goliath. The year of atonement is at hand. We start now!*” Damian said determinedly. 

“Yes, Damian... we do” Maya mutters from behind him, invisible and alone.

The fucking idiocy.

She had thought her father’s killer would be skilled, smart, strong.

He was two out of the three.

Seeing as she was currently clearing up his mess by saving the civilians he was carelessly endangering, it was obvious which out of the three he was lacking.

The idiot had decided to revive a stone guardian without any form of a backup plan for when it inevitably decided to fight the thing that shut it down!

As she looked at the fight holding her father’s killer and the guardian, she was faced with two choices.

Either once, she could go on her merry way, happy with the knowledge that Damian had surely died by the conclusion of this fight. Or two, she could go in and help the brat.

Maya sighed deeply. She already knew which one she was going to do.

Damian would die by her hand and her hand alone.

“Buddhir Balam Yasho Dhairyam Nirbhayatvam Arogataam Ajaaddyam Vaak Pattutvam Ca Hanumat Smarannaat Bhavet” Maya said softly to herself, repeating the prayer that had sent her on this very course. 

She charged in.

“You are Maya Ducard, daughter of Morgan Ducard. Are you here to take your revenge?” Damian finally asks her when the two are done fighting.

“Yes,” Maya answers shortly.

“Have you ever even killed before?” The words are not said mockingly but rather with genuine curiosity. Maya still feels her face turn red under the mask despite that.

“No, which will make it all the sweeter that you should be my first” Maya says angrily. Damian stares at her, his eyes calm. 

“I see. Very well, kill me,” Damian’s face is blank but his eyes are accepting.

“I- what?” Maya pulls up short.

“Kill me,” Damian repeats.

“Is this some sort of reverse psychology thing? Because it’s not going to work” Maya narrows her eyes suspiciously.

“No, this is me offering you a chance to have your revenge. I just ask that you wait until I’m done with my year of atonement,” Maya looks at the boy, really stops and looks at him. He was wearing a cloth mask that covered the bottom half of his face but his eyes were unobstructed. The shadows under his empty eyes made pity curl in Maya’s gut. 

“What? So you can happily die without guilt? So you can trick everyone into thinking you're a good person underneath?” Maya hissed hatefully, angrily pushing down the pity. The boy had killed her father! He didn't deserve understanding! (the boy was only 13, a full year younger than her)

“No, it’s because I ruined a lot of innocent lives and I’m tired of staring at my mistakes without doing anything to fix them” Damian’s words ring true. But Maya refuses to think that anything coming out of an al Ghul’s mouth could ever be true.

“I don't believe you” 

“You don't need to, you just need to agree” Damian shrugs.

“Fine, it’ll be something to laugh about when you're cold in your grave. I just have one condition” Maya holds up a finger.

Damian nodded his head for her to go on.

“I will go with you. I refuse to wait a year only to find out you died while I wasn't looking,” Damian makes a noise of complaint but Maya stares him down.

“Fine” Damian agrees unhappily.

And so, Maya spends a year running around with the boy who killed her father.

He was nothing like she had thought he would be. He was arrogant and rude and far too violent at times, but he was also gentle, kind, and soft. Her father would have said that he needed to be beaten out of it.

Maya was becoming less and less certain that her father would have been right.

Because despite his kindness, Damian had defeated her father.

“Blood isn't everything. I learned that the hard way. It’ll give you a base to work off of but sometimes that base is shit and anything you build on it will just collapse,” Damian had told her one night when she revealed her father’s training regime.

“What do you do then?” Maya had asked.

“You make a new base,” Damian had told her with a bitter smile, his tone suggesting that he knew all too well what he was talking about.

A few days later she breached the topic again.

“Don't you have one person that you're related to?” Maya had asked, curious despite herself.

“My cousin Mara. I think you two would get along. You're both stronger than steel,” Damian had told her seriously. The complement made Maya’s chest warm for days afterward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to say a special thank you to Lollipop676 she was a big help in giving me the information I needed to write this chapter.
> 
> Also, to clarify. 
> 
> Maya is Indian on her mother's side. She was taken away from her mother at 6 and has been living and training with her father since.


	10. Chapter 10

When Jon had first started flying to Damian’s location his father had found him immediately and dragged him home.

He also found him on his second, third, fourth, and fifth attempt too.

By then Jon had decided it was time to stop using brute strength to solve the problem and instead think it out.

He read through every one of Damian’s files about Kryptonians, had a mental breakdown, cried, passed out from exhaustion, and then came up with a solution.

The reason his dad was able to catch him so quickly was because he could hear him. If Jon was just able to make it so his father couldn't hear him he’d be fine.

This led him to his solution, lead. Get it? Led, lead.

Nevermind.

Anyway, there were two problems with this: one, he would have to be covered from head to toe in lead, a substance poisonous to humans. And two, he’d be cutting off his own access to his hearing as well.

Someone else might have thought another problem would be where to get the lead but Damian was way ahead of everyone, as per usual. 

Damian had made and given Jon a suit that would block out his father’s hearing as well as his own in case he needed to get away from his father for whatever reason.

Jon loved Damian.

Anyway, that still left the other two problems. One, poison. Two, can't hear with superpowers.

His human hearing would work but his super hearing would not.

Then, it hit him. He needed help, help from someone not totally human. Someone that knew Damian and would want to help him!

Which led to now, Jon in a garage in Gotham waiting for Damian’s best friend.

The sound of a motorcycle clued Jon in that he wouldn't be alone for long.

The redhead took off his helmet and took a good hard look at Jon. he powered down, leaving behind a skinny little 13-year old where there had once been a grown man.

“So, your Colin,” Jon commented with fake disinterest. The redhead narrowed his eyes in distrust. The older boy had dark bags under his eyes and an aura of utter sorrow surrounding him.

“Who wants to know,” the boy asked tiredly. He crossed his arms and looked Jon down like that would intimidate him. Jokes on Colin, he’d been trained by Damian fucking Wayne, it took a lot more than a glare to scare him off.

“Jon Kent,” Jon answered. Colin’s eyes lit up in recognition.

“Your Damian’s other half,” Colin breathed out. He looked at Jon like a man in a desert looked at water.

“And you're his best friend,” Jon grinned happily.

The two took the other in, trying to see the marks Damian left on them. 

Colin had Damian’s glare while Jon had Damian’s confident smirk. They both took comfort at these reminders, the reminders that someone else knew their pain, that someone else understood how important Damian had been.

That someone else understood that the world shouldn’t have kept spinning.

“What are you- what are you doing here?” Colin finally asks.

“I’m here to ask you if you want to go on an adventure with me,” Jon brings a hand up and scratches the back of his neck nervously.

“An adventure?” Colin’s eyebrows furrow.

“Uh, well the thing is, Damain’s- Damian’s alive” Jon looks away from Colin’s face to examine the rest of the garage. 

It looked like Colin had been living in it for quite a while now.

“That’s impossible,” Colin says coldly. He turns around to leave the other boy when Jon regains his voice.

“Wait, please. Just listen to me. Let me explain,” Jon pleaded. Colin stops, a pensive look on his face before sighing through his nose.

“Alright farm boy, tell me how Damian could possibly be alive,” Colin said spitefully.

“Alright, so I have a thing where I can hear everything on this side of the equator. This, unfortunately, means that my head is constantly full of noise. Then I learned to drown out the other noise by focusing on just one sound. I chose Damian’s heartbeat. Three months ago Damian’s heartbeat stopped and all the noise came back like a sledgehammer. Then, a few weeks ago, I heard Damian’s heartbeat. He’s alive,” Jon rushed out. Colin looked at him, hummed a little, moved around the garage, took off his trench coat, then finally turned around and looked at Jon.

“Damian told me something when he was drunk. About how he had died three times. I thought he was just drunkenly rambling, but the way Damian said it was strange. If your right, and Damian’s alive, then I need to do everything I can to find him,” Colin looked down for a second before looking back up directly in Jon’s eyes.

“Oh thank god. Because if you said no there is no way I would have been able to do it on my own. Cuz I gotta tell you a few other things before we get going,”

“You know how my dad’s Superman?” Colin nodded.

“Well he could hear me every time I tried to escape so I’m wearing a suit infused with lead right now. Damian gave it to me. Anyway, not important. The problem with this suit is that while my dad can't hear me anymore, I can't hear anything with my super hearing either. That's why I need you. So that you can help me track down Damian and because you're unlikely to die of lead poisoning,”

“Wait, so you're telling me that not only are useless right now, but you're also poisonous?” Colin asked in alarm.

“I’m not useless, I still have access to all my other powers like flight, just not hearing,” Jon tries to defend before turning glum.  
Colin awkwardly pats Jon’s shoulder.

“There there,” he says robotically. Jon cracks a smile at the attempt.

“So, you still wanna come?”

“Of course. Plus, if Damian really is alive he’d skin me if I let you go out in the world on your own without backup,”

A day later and the two set out on a road trip of epic proportions.

Conversation like these often happened:

“I just don't think that techno-rock could be considered a proper music genre,” Jon countered.

“Eat my fucking ass farm boy,” Colin said in frustration.

“No thank you” Jon politely declined.

“That's not what I- you know what? Never mind,”

“What’s that?” Colin asked cautiously.

“A hat,” Jon smiled gleefully.

“That is not a hat” 

“I’ll deal with my problems the old fashioned way goddamnit! And by that I mean ignore I have any,” Jon said stubbornly as he refused to sleep for the third time that week.

“There's a therapist out there that spontaneously combusted because of what you just said,” Colin said dryly.

“Is that a bird?” 

“no”

“I swear to god Jon, if I turn around and you're still wearing that stupid-”

"Damian once almost stabbed a man for jaywalking" Jon revealed one night.

"Damian once almost stabbed a man for smiling too much. Called it suspicious" Colin deadpanned.

“Do you just ever think about how much easier life would be if we just told each other things? Let me give an example. Colin, I dislike the amount of disrespect you're constantly giving my hat,” Jon said, his voice honest but Colin knew that the little shit was fucking with him at this point.

“Oh, is it my turn now? Okay, Jon, I think it’s absolutely appalling that you refuse to admit that your “hat” is a fucking possum!”

“You take that back!”

“It’s fucking moving!”

“It’s just emotionally distraught right now okay? How would you feel if someone was constantly insulting you?”

“By your own words, it’s an inanimate object!”

“It still has feelings!”

“Must you curse so much?”

“Must you be so annoying?”

And so on.

TwO mOnThS aFtEr ThEy FiRsT sTaRtEd ThEiR rOaD tRiP

“This is ridiculous” Jon muttered as they looked around the abandoned base.

They had thought for sure that they would find Damian here.

“I think what’s really ridiculous is how many bases the al Ghul’s have. Why the fuck would anyone need thirty-two bases?” Colin complains.

“To confuse and trick enemies of the house like you,” a voice sneered from behind them.

Both Colin and Jon jumped to attention. Backs together in a protective position. 

The past few months of fighting assassins together had really sharpened their teamwork and fighting skills as well as situational awareness.

The last one had failed them though. Which either meant that Colin and Jon were not nearly as good as they thought they were, or the girl in front of them was leagues above them.

“Who are you?” Colin asked suspiciously.

“Mara al Ghul, granddaughter of the demon’s head and daughter of the white ghost” Mara answers, her eyes hard.

“Your Damian’s cousin!” Jon shouts excitedly. Colin curses from behind him.

“Excuse me?” Mara asked with a dangerous kind of calm.

“Were Damian’s friends. I’m Colin and this is Jon. We’re looking for Damain,” Colin cuts in before Jon can get a word in, he knows better to allow that by now after the first time he had somehow offended a religious leader and a gang boss at the same time. Escaping that situation had not been fun.

“Oh!” suddenly Mara untensed. She’s still straight-backed and hard eyes but she looks like she’s less likely to attack them at any moment.

“Damian’s currently on a mission but he should be back in a few months. I can't let you interfere but I’d be more than happy to host you until Damian gets back” Mara says graciously. 

Colin and Jon look at each other. A few months without having to worry about their next meal, or assassins, or how uncomfortable the ground was?

Sign them up.

"You're not taking your possum with us," Mara told Jon firmly. Jon looked down in despair while Colin whooped in victory.


	11. Chapter 11

“The Skull of Den, it’s missing,” Damian said, his panic visible.

“I’m sorry?” Maya asked in confusion, concern lacing her voice.

“No, that’s not- someone took it. Only Ravi, Mara, and my mother know about this bunker. Ravi is with Mara, and Mara would never have interfered with my mission, which leaves my mother,” Damian explains with a frown as he looks intently at the bunker.

“Your mother? The same woman that killed you or something?” Maya asked, just to be sure.

“Technically my clone killed me, my mother just gave the orders,” Damian explains as he double-checks that the skull was not in the bunker.

“So she’s the one pulling the trigger but not the bullet. Technically she still killed you” Maya reasons, rolling her eyes at Damian’s strange need to justify shitty people.

“We don't have time for this. Come along, we need to find that skull. You will take Goliath and search on the right side of the island. Call me at once if you see my mother, do not engage,” Damian warned, already heading to the left side of the island.

“Stop being an idiot and put the relics back into the bunker. We have more important things to worry about than your petty guilt. The fate of the world is at stake,” Talia chastised.

“No,” Damian denied. He felt an overwhelming desire to smile at the frustration his mother was currently expressing.

“No? You would deny your mother’s orders? Your father’s mission?” Talia blew up.

“You killed me and father replaced me. You are not my family, you hold no tie over me,” Damian explained slowly like she was stupid.

“Yet you use the al Ghul name!”

“I do not use that name for you,” Damian snorted at the stupidity.

“Then for who?” Talia narrowed her eyes.

“For my cousin” Damian shrugged. A soft smile lighting his face.

“The failed heir? You can’t be serious!” Talia pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Do not doubt my words Talia” Damian said firmly.

The ground started to tremble

“It’s too late! Your guilt has forsaken us all!” Talia hissed.

A figure emerged from the smoke and suddenly Damian grew very aware that perhaps his mother wasn't lying.

One botched escape attempt and a reluctant rescue later and Damian and his mother were on a boat with Maya and Goliath, driving far away from the destruction that was happening on al Ghul island.

“Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight, Damian wanted to repent for his sins by redistributing the items he had stolen, but by doing so he was giving back power to a rival family of the al Ghul’s that want to destroy the world,” Maya asked, her face full of doubt. Damian approved, one could never be trustful of his mother’s true intentions.

“In the most simplistic of words, yes,” Talia said distastefully. She then waved Maya away with a hand wave. Maya narrowed her eyes and flipped her the bird. Talia curled back her lips and scowled harshly at the girl.

Damian got in between the two before they could get into a physical alteration. Damian pleaded with his eyes for Maya to leave. Maya scoffed but left to go by Goliath.

“How'd you even find out about this?” Damian finally asked.

“I followed the trail of idiocy and found my son at the end of it. Congratulations on a successful resurrection by the way,” Talia said coldly.

“I’d say thank you but I have a strong policy that forbids me from thanking those who had a part in my murder” Damian’s voice was just as frigid.

“Hasn't your precious cousin Mara also killed you? Do you not thank her as well? The double standards are appalling” Damian growled at her.

“I'd say that you’d just have to live with it but I wouldn't want you to think that I wish for you to live,” Damian snarked.

“The disrespect, I swear. You were never this mouthy before you met your father” Talia said lightly. Damian audibly hissed at her.

“Tt, and you were never this annoying”

“The only reason I don't kill you where you stand is because I still need your help to take down the Darga” Talia hissed back.

“Unfortunate” Damian mocked.

“Don't pretend like you don’t need me just as much,” Talia snarled.

“Here's the thing though, I don't. I have Mara on my side and she has the resources I need to help me take down the Darga without your help,” Damian told her firmly.

“You’d really turn down free assistance because of your hurt feelings? I see you’ve become emotional as well as foolish,” Talia sneered.

“I don't owe you anything” but Damian’s voice broke halfway through. Talia took in the crack in his mask and tore it apart with both hands.

“Don't you? I’m the one that raised you, that taught you, that made you. I only cast you aside because you choose your father. Had you stayed with me we would have ruled the world together! Instead, you betrayed me! Your death was no one's fault but your own! Stop being a child and blaming others for your mistakes. It’s time to grow up and look the truth in the face,” Talia’s voice was as cold as ice and as hard as steel. It made Damian want to curl up in a ball and disappear from the world.   
She wasn't wrong, she would never have killed Damian if he hadn't just gone with her. But he hadn't, instead, he’d chosen to be a “hero”

And where had that gotten him? Killed by his mother and replaced by his father. It was his own choices that led him here. His own fault that he had died.

Damian knew she was right, but that didn't stop him from hating her, from hating his father. Perhaps he was acting like a child, perhaps he was blaming others for his own mistakes, perhaps he was being unreasonable. But Damian didn't give a shit.

If Damian was being selfish, if he was being childish, if he was being unreasonable, then let him. 

He didn't own anyone shit.

And it was time his mother learned that.

“I’m going to drop you off at the nearest landmass and then I’m going to leave you,” Damian told her honestly. Talia scowled at him.

By the time he realized that she had taken the Scepter of Kings with her, it was far too late.

“Fuck”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I know not everyone read this comic run so I'm here to clarify things.
> 
> In the original run, Darga brings Talia back to life with magic and the magic fixes her mind and makes it so that she realizes her mistakes with how she treated Damian.
> 
> She was trying to save him and they ended up fighting one of the Darga's that was released from their prison. this disproves al Ghul island and Damian's failed clones sacrifice themselves to save Damian. They escape and Talia becomes a Queen using the Septer of Kings.
> 
> In my fic, the clones are happily living on another island and do not die because I'm not fucking heartless.
> 
> In this fanfic, Talia never died and instead just realized what Damian was doing and was trying to stop him. She doesn't care that he's alive one way or another but recognizes that she'll need help to take down this new threat. She'll still be Queen but Damian and his friends are gonna be the ones to take down the threat, not Talia and Bruce working together like some fucked up parody of a family.
> 
> I didn't really like how the original sort of made Damian forgive Talia for killing him and shit. so in this fic, neither Bruce nor Talia will be forgiven.
> 
> Because, and repeat it with me, you don't owe anyone shit. 
> 
> if you have any questions do not hesitate to comment down below.


	12. Chapter 12

Duke frowned at the screen. What the fuck? Was that- was that Damian?

Duke leaned in further, eyes squinting.

“What are you looking at?” a voice asked from behind him. Duke jumped up and deleted the footage.

“Porn,” Duke blurted out to the ten-year-old. Duke cringed. 

God, why was he like this?

“Porn?” Tim asked doubtfully.

“Porn” Duke nodded in agreement, firmly sticking to the lie. 

“Porn?” Tim asked once again like he thought Duke might finally come clean. Jokes on him, he outlasted Batman in lies (though that was mostly because Bruce would just find out what the truth with his weird detective powers and then punish him if what he was lying about a bad thing).

“Yup,” Duke popped the p sound.

“I don't believe you,” Tim said suspiciously.

“Well that’s your problem Timmy” Duke smiled condescendingly.

“You were looking at news articles!” Tim pointed accusingly at the screen.

“You don't know my kinks!” Duke shouted back, immediately regretting it. God, this was the last thing he wanted to talk about with his younger brother.

“Kinks? Like flaws?” Duke winced. Holy shit, nooooooo. Why god, why?

“Yup, exactly like that. I’m glad you’re so smart and don’t need me to explain things for you Timbo,” Duke tried to steer the conversation away from the absolute fuckfest it would become if he stayed on the topic.

Tim looked at him suspiciously but his chest puffed up a little and a pleased look sat on his face.

Adorable. 

Not the point though.

Duke transferred his research to a thumb drive and deleted everything else. He then stretched out his legs and stood up.

Tim followed him out of the room like a duckling and Duke’s heart clenched at the comparison.

He was just so cute.

“What are you going to do today?” Tim asks him, sounding hopeful.

“Well I need to finish a case file but after that, I should be free. You want to do something with me?” Duke offers.

“Yes please!”

“Nice” Duke brings down a hand and ruffles Timmy’s hair.

The kid was only two years younger than him but Duke had taken the opportunity to be an older brother by the balls and he was not letting go.

Duke frowned at the video.

That was definitely Damian’s fighting style but Damian was also definitely dead.

Duke hummed. 

Okay, here’s what he knew for sure.

Damian was dead

There was someone out there that had the exact same fighting style of Damian

Damian was trained by the League of Assassins

Conclusion?

A style Duke had once thought to be uniquely Damian’s was actually a common style among the League.

That was the most logical conclusion, but it still felt wrong. Duke’s gut was telling him that something was more than it seemed.

Duke promised himself he’d keep an eye on it.

Anyway, he had a little brother to hang out with.

“Hey Alfred,” Duke called out. It was Thursday which meant grocery day.

“Truly Master Duke, you really don't need to trouble yourself by coming with me. I promise I’ll survive if you decide to one day not come with me”

“Alfred, I don't know how to tell you this but if I ever let you go out without me, Damian would come back from the grave and beat me to death with a stick,”

“I can almost imagine that,” Alfred smiled wistfully.

“You won't need to imagine it if you try and keep me from helping you,” Duke joked lightly. 

The two came back two hours later, arms full of their haul. As they're loading away the food a voice interrupts.

“Where were you two?” Tim asks, peeking up from the table he was crouched under.

“Shopping,” Duke answers without stopping.

“Can I come next time?” Tim gets up from his place and follows Duke around the kitchen.

“Ask Alfred,” Duke closes a cabinet and then opens another.

“Alfred, can I come next time?” Tim repeats.

“Of course master Tim,” Alfred ruffles Tim’s hair as he passes by. Tim’s hair sticks up dramatically.

“Nice,” Tim grins in satisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to tell y'all the ages
> 
> currently:  
> Damian is 13
> 
> Colin is 13
> 
> Mara is 13
> 
> Suren is 13
> 
> Jon is 11
> 
> Maya is 14
> 
> Duke is 12
> 
> Tim is 10
> 
> So, Damian died at 13, was reborn three months later. Tim became the new Redwings at 10, the same age Damian became Redwings. Duke is a year younger then Damian and two years older then Tim. 
> 
> Damian stayed with Mara for two months before his guilt picked up and he started his year of atonement, where he met Maya and will soon meet Suren. 
> 
> Jon found out about Damian's resurrection immediately and after a few weeks he found Colin and the two have spent the last month and a half hunting for Damian around the world. Mara found them so we'll se how that goes.
> 
> Just wanted to clarify some things.


	13. Chapter 13

“Have fun in hell!” Colin screams at Jon. Mara pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing in despair.

“I’ll save you a seat!” Jon screams back.

The two continue their little temper tantrum for another few minutes before Mara’s patience snaps.

“Dear god, can you idiots back the fuck up? You're messing with the feng shui,” Mara sneers. Both boys blink a little before seemingly agreeing to stay quiet.

They stay silent for a few moments. Then, inevitably, one of them speaks up.

“When’s Damian coming?” Jon whines. Mara resists the urge to drop her face into her hands.

She’s a warrior, a leader, a cold-blooded killer, she will not be beaten by a pair of prepubescent boys.

“Kent, don't make me murder you. Because I will, and don't think I’ll give you an ounce of mercy either just because Damian calls you his “other half"” Mara spits out the term like it was disease-ridden.

“He talks about me?” Jon says, hyper-focusing on one point of the statement.

Mara groans.

“Honestly it’s kinda like looking at a warped mirror,” Colin says snidely.

“Excuse me?” Mara narrows her eyes.

“You heard me” 

“Oh I heard you well enough but I was giving you a chance to take back your statement” Jon looks in between the two and wonders if he’s going to have to interfere soon.

“A chance I don't need,” Colin says.

“Or perhaps a chance that you utterly wasted,” Mara snaps back.

“Yeah well-”

“Can you two stop? We have more important things to talk about, like whether or not Damian mentioned me,” Jon interrupts.

Colin and Mara both looked at each other resignedly.

“Yes Kent, my cousin talked of you frequently,” Mara rolls her eyes.

“Then why didn't he contact me?” Jon asks.

“what?”

“Then why didn't he contact me” this time his words are said with feverish intensity and she knows that she has to tread carefully lest she somehow turns away a powerful ally. She strains her brain, desperately trying to remember what Damian had said about Jon Kent. 

“I don't know” the words are pulled out of her throat by pure force of will.

“What do you mean you don't know,” Colin cuts, his eyes sharp and his voice sharper.

The tone makes Mara sneer and her spine straighten to steel, she would not allow these children to disrespect her when she had given them her hospitality. Damian’s friends or not they could not be allowed to walk all over her.

“I mean that I do not know the reasons why my cousin has decided to keep you two in the dark. I can imagine that it’s because he’d rather not be tied down by some innocent little kids playing hero,” venom drips from her lips and Mara grins savagely at the weapons her words have become.

Jon recoils and Colin squares his shoulders, gearing for a fight. 

“Wonder why he never mentioned you when he was in Gotham, maybe he was trying to not be tied down by you” Colin emphasizes the last word.

“I’m his family, his beloved cousin, you two are nothing but pathetic puppies nipping at his heels” Mara mocks.

“Are you sure about that? After all, he chose us, he’s stuck with you,” Colin snaps back.

“I’m the one that brought him back from the dead! I saved him! He loves me far more than he loves you!” Mara spits out and the two start to take steps towards each other.

“Guys” Jon tries to cut in.

“Are you sure about that? By your own admission, you brought him back, you have no clue if he’s staying because he actually loves you or because he feels like he needs to!” Colin shakes with unrestrained rage.

“Oh yeah? I think the fact that he never contacted you despite me saying nothing against it as fact enough that he doesn't give a flying fuck about you” Mara takes another step.

“Guys” Jon is once more ignored.

“Oh, that’s rich coming from you. Did he even try and contact you while in Gotham?” Colin and Mara were only had a little bit of distance to separate them as they both took positions to fight.

“Guys” Jon whines now.

“He couldn't! I was under league control and unless he wished to endanger me he had to stay away,” Mara beers her teeth.

“Is that what you tell yourself when you go to sleep?” Colin mocks.

“Guys!” Jon finally shouts, absolutely done.

Mara and Colin still, both breathing harshly, fists clenched.

“We don't know that Damian was thinking when he decided not to contact us, but it’s not this!” Jon points at their everything.

“Colin, you know Damian would never pull that shit, if he didn't love Mara then he wouldn't have stayed with her, he would have left the next day without a word and that would have been the end of that. And Mara, I don't know you well enough to accurately criticize you right now but I just wanna say that your words were unnecessarily mean” Jon chastises them both.

They open their mouths to object but Jon steamrolls over them.

“I honestly don't care what you guys have to say for yourselves, maybe I’d care more if you hadn't been blatantly ignoring me, but alas, you have,” Jon tells them firmly. Then he claps his hands sharply and beams at them.

A shiver goes down Mara and Colin’s spine.

“Here’s what we’re going to do, we are going to sit down, say we're sorry for all the mean things we said” here loud protests are made but Jon just continues on, yelling slightly to be heard over them “and then we’re all going to cuddle. This is non-negotiable, I have the powers and the determination to make this happen. Don't tempt me to make your punishment worse,” Jon threatens.

“I am Mara al Ghul, granddaughter of the Demon, a skilled assassin unmatched by many! You can not presume to control me,” Mara 

“I’m not hugging the cold-blooded killer Jon,” Colin attempts to reason.

“We are all hugging each other,” Jon tells them. Then, before they can even blink, he has both of them in his hold as the two struggle to get away like cats.

Jon just tightens his arms.

Minutes go by before they finally settle down.

Jon smiles widely. 

He loves winning, and he just won by every definition of the word.

Mara squints at them. Looks at their innocent eyes just begging her not to hurt them because they would never have! Then she looks at what used to be a training room.

It is nothing but rubble now.

“I don't believe you,” Mara tells them.

“Your loss honestly” Colin shoots back. Jon hits Colin in the back of the head and directs a sheepish smile towards Mara.

“Mara we’re sincere, we had no association with this, we just walked in a few minutes before you did”

“Kent, I know you're lying. We have video cameras everywhere” Mara says tiredly.

Both Colin and Jon pout as Mara wishes desperately for her cousin to come back and deal with these imbeciles.

Mara smirks down at Colin. The redhead was tied up and no longer a redhead. Mara rather thought he looked better in blue anyway.

“Jon! How could you! I thought we had something special!” Colin struggles against his bonds and Mara relishes the feeling of winning.

“I’m sorry Colin but Mara promised to give me back my hat,” Jon says apologetically but he is betrayed by the utter delight hidden in his eyes.

“It’s fucking possum!”

“You take that back!”

“I’ll skin you both for this,” Colin grits out. His hair was not only blue but now it was sparkly too.

Mara thought it was an improvement.

Evidently, Jon did too if the way he hid his giggles behind his hands was any indication.

The betrayed look Colin shoots Jon makes all of this worth it.

Mara laughs, her high pitched giggles were something to be feared.

“Mara! Why? We were allies!” Jon wails. Mara shoots him again with her paint gun, her aim perfect.

“There are no allies in a war such as this,” Mara says sagely before a bloodthirsty grin steals across her face.

“Cowards! Bastard! Scum, scum I say!” Mara screams in indignation as she clutches what was once her beautiful hair.

Oh, it was war.

“How did she even get kryptonite!”

“I think the more important question is what she’s going to do with it!”

“Is that a tattoo?” Jon asks cautiously.

“I don't want to talk about it” Colin looks at him, his eyes tired and his soul dead.

Colin is awoken by the sound of Jon’s screaming.

He’s awake and out of bed in a moment.

“What's wrong?” Colin asks, his eyes flickering around the room in search of a threat.

“My hat is pink!” Colin pauses at that. He turns towards Jon, and lo and behold, the possum is in fact pink.

“She dyed the possum? Wow, that's dedication. I’m kinda impressed” Colin raises an eyebrow in consideration.

“My poor hat!” Jon wailed.

“An armistice then?” Mara asks with a smirk. Colin wants to smack that smirk off her face.

“Yeah,” Jon says with a sniffle. Mara grins before handing both Colin and Jon a bottle.

“Good. Oh, by the way, the dye comes out when washed with this shampoo” the look of pure loathing on Colin’s face was enough to warm Mara for days afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to post this yesterday but shit happened and I had to move it to today.
> 
> Also, Mara and Colin are threatened by the other because they think that they could take Damian away from them. Jon thinks their stupid and just wishes they could all be friends


	14. Chapter 14

“So what are we doing now?” Maya asked after a few days of wandering around the island.

“If Talia is telling the truth then we will need to meet up with my cousin to get us the soldiers and resources we need to defeat this new threat,” Damian sits on a log and tightly clenches his fists.

“Shouldn't we call the Justice League?” Maya asked.

“Funny,” Damian said with a snort.

After a few days of flying, they finally make it to the base.

Damian, Goliath, and Maya quickly walk to the throne room where Mara would most likely be at this point in the day.

“Kent I swear to god! Keep that possum out of this room before I disembowel you!” Mara’s voice shouts. 

Damian stills, he blinks, and then he runs.

“Damian? Damian wait!” Maya calls as she runs after him.

Damian rushes to the room where the voices were coming from and opens the door with a bang.

There, standing right before him was Colin, Mara, and Jon. Maya slides to a stop just behind him and Damian becomes increasingly aware that the most important people in his life are all in one place.

It only takes a moment for him to take anything in before he’s rushing forward to wrap them all in a hug.

Jon returns it enthusiastically, crying as he rambles about missing him. Colin only struggles for a moment before also wrapping his arms around Damian, whispering into his shoulder that he was glad he was alive. Mara does not struggle or return the hug, she stands stiffly for a few minutes before finally relaxing into his embrace.

“Maya, get in here,” Damian refuses to acknowledge how choked up his voice sounds even to his own ears.

Maya takes a hesitant step forward before hugging Damian from behind.

The five continue to cuddle for what feels like hours but what was probably only a few minutes before Mara complains about her joints locking up.

“Grandma,” Colin mocks.

“Bitch,” Mara throws back.

“Those aren't even at the same level,” Colin complains.

“I don't recall ever agreeing to play by your rules asshole” Mara sneers.

The two continue to argue as Jon groans into Damian’s shoulder.

Damian laughs hysterically at their banter.

“So who’s that?” Jon eventually asks, deciding to ignore the two still fighting in the background.

Damian watches for a moment as the fight escalates to the point where Mara brings out her sword and Colin powers up.

“This is Maya, I killed her father and she has accompanied me on my year of redemption so that I don't die before she kills me,” Damian says with a shrug that briefly dislodges Jon’s head.

Jon whines in response and Damian apologizes.

“Hold up, you're telling me that you brought a girl that is planning to kill you into our home!” Mara interrupts. Colin nods his head in agreement before scowling as he realizes what he just did.

“If it helps I no longer plan to kill Damian,” Maya says sheepishly. 

Damian blinks at her before grinning wildly.

“Are you saying that I’ve grown on you?” Damian teases.

“Yeah, like an infectious disease,” Maya snorts.

“That's not how-” Colin cuts in before Damian can really get going.

“Oh my god yes. I literally thought the same fucking thing when the little brat crash-landed into my life,” Colin and Maya share a commiserating look.

“Same,” Jon mumbles. Damian has never been more betrayed.

He turns to look at his cousin, begging with his eyes for her to defend his honor.

“He gave this giant scar on my face and he still somehow made me care about his well being,” Mara shakes her head in disbelief and Damian now knows for sure that god has abandoned this timeline.

“How dare you!” Damian holds a hand against his heart but rather than immediately apologizes, the people that call themselves his friends simply laugh at his misfortune.

The audacity.

“So, any reason you’ve come home early? I was expecting at least another month before your return,” Mara eventually says after their peels of laughter settles down.

Damian sniffs at them before getting serious.

“The world is going to end and I require your help to stop it,” Damian tries to get them to understand how bad this it with his eyes alone.

“Come again?” Jon asks.

“The world is going to end and-” Jon cuts in.  
“No, I got that the first time I was just hoping you’d revise your answer,” Jon rubs the back of his head nervously before sighing.

“Apologies?” Damian says with a nervous smile.

“Don't apologize for simply being a messenger cousin,” Mara says with a sigh. She brings a hand to her head and rubs her eyes.

“Can we get some details please? I’d like to know what we’re up against,” Colin brings a curled finger to his lips as he tries to absorb what is happening.

“The al Ghuls have an ancient enemy that goes by the name Darga. They are an opposing family that were the original guardians of the Lazarus pits. Their goal is to destroy the world. My grandfather had managed this threat by binding them to magical objects. The objects were, of course, the ones I had stolen during my year of blood. By returning these objects I have been unknowingly returning them to power. Our job is to defeat the head Darga before he manages to end the world,” Damian tells them.

“Heavy,” Maya says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Downer,” Jon joins in with a shit-eating grin.

“Depressing” Colin deadpans, a smile tugging at the end of his lips.

Both Mara and Damian sigh.

“Will you be able to spare a few soldiers for this cause?” Damian ignores the three "comedians" grinning up at him.

“Of course cousin,” Mara assures.

“And we’re coming too of course,” Jon adds.

Colin nods his head and Maya raises her eyebrows as though finding it stupid to expect anything different of her.

“Thank you,” Damian says, his soul laid bare to the people he loves.

Damian and his team waited patiently at al Ghul island.

“Any minute now,” Damian muttered.

A few seconds later and the entire forest was soon overcome by ninjas not associated with the al Ghuls.

“Move, move, move!” Damian shouted.

Mara pulled out her sword and charged, her assassins charging with her.

Maya turned on her Nobody suit, her whispers riding the wind.

“Buddhir Balam Yasho Dhairyam Nirbhayatvam Arogataam Ajaaddyam Vaak Pattutvam Ca Hanumat Smarannaat Bhavet” 

Colin powered up and Jon immediately ran forward.

As the rest of his team took down the foot soldiers Damian went straight for the main meal.

He entered the room and blinked in surprise.

“You're a child?” Damian couldn't help but ask.

“Excuse me? I am Suren Darga! Son of Den Darga! Fear me young al Ghul for I am your end,” the Darga seemed terribly offended that anyone would ever call him a child.

Damian could understand that, he himself hated it when someone belittled him that way.

“The only end you shall bring about is your family bloodline,” Damian spits out.

The two commenced their battle.

Darga was skilled with his sword and his magic gave a rather unfair advantage but Damian was determined to win.

Darga swiped his hand and Damian dodged just in time to see the rock behind him split in half.

Damian growled before attempting to tackle the asshole.

He ended up dodging lighting instead.

“Stop fucking doing that!” Damian ended up shouting after a few minutes of this sort of back and forth.

“Aww, you don't like lighting? Well, how do you feel about fire instead!” Suren sneered.

Damian didn't much like fire either if he was being honest.

Just as Damian had gotten close enough to grapple with the last ancient artifact a giant tentacle eye thingy smacked him away.

“What the fuck!”

Suran laughed maniacally before dropping the object into the volcano.

“I did it, father! The magic of the Darga’s shall cleanse this stained world and shape it once more in our image!” the ground started to crumble and soon Damian and Suran stood on a little bit of land that had not yet eroded away.

“No! I won't allow it! Not when I’ve put in so much effort to be a good person goddamnit!” Damian snarled as he punched Suren in the face.

Once more their fight commenced.

“It’s too late! The energy of that the Lazarus pit has been collecting for millennia will be released and with it, the spirits of the Darga’s shall oversee the new world!” a giant tree started to sprout from the mouth of the volcano.

“Fucking bullshit! I fucking researched this shit and it most certainly does not work like that! Have you not even attempted to understand the magic you are doing? Nothing will survive this! Not your spirit and not the spirits of past Dargas” Damian ducked beneath Suren’s sword and kicked out his legs to trip him up.  
“Don't you get it? You're a tool! A means to an end that won't ever benefit you!” Damian got punched in the face and the force of it almost pushed him off the edge of the rock both were fighting on.

“You're lying! My father brought me back from the dead!”

“So fucking what! He only brought you back because he wanted you to complete his insane fucking plan!” the two stood on uneven feet as they gasped for breath.

Damian whipped off blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and spit out the blood that started to pool in his mouth.

“I get it, trust me I get it. I was a weapon too. My mother wanted me to be her puppet and my father wished for me to be his dulled blade. I was constantly told what to do and who to be. Trust me when I say I get it. But Suren, you're not just a weapon! You're a person too!” Damian wants desperately to shake Suren by the shoulders so he can see sense.

“Your words are futile! It’s too late the world will end there is nothing you can say or do to make it otherwise!”

“Don't try and feed me that bullshit! You’re a person, you have a choice! Do you even want to destroy the world? Don't you have anything to live for!?”

“Stop. talking.” Suren gritted out.

“I understand! I understand wanting to do anything for your father’s approval! I understand feeling alone! And, I understand being discarded!”

“My father loves me!”

“Then why the fuck didn't he bring you back to life before now?! Why did he only bring you back when the world was ending!? He clearly had the power to do so!”

“No... no, it’s only because you put back the artifacts,”

“You're telling me that a man as powerful and knowledgeable as Den Darga couldn't think of a single way to bring you back to life!? What about the fucking Lazarus pit you so proudly claim as your family's birthright!?”

“I- he-” tears streamed down Suren’s face

“You're just a means to an end. A trigger for an event your father has tried so desperately to engineer that he’s willing to sacrifice his own son” Damian’s voice was more gentle as Suren cried.

“Can you stop it?” Damian asked softly.

Suren nodded his head weakly and turned around to stop earth's destruction.

“I just have to stop channeling it,” Suren explained as he hastily whipped away his tears.

“Stop being a weapon for someone that doesn't give a shit and start being a person that makes their own choices,” Damian said softly.

Damian watched with wide eyes as Suren started glowing white, his hands extending to the heavens themselves.

It only took a few minutes before everything returned back to normal.

The tree was still there but at least it had stopped glowing.

Damian dropped his hand on Suren’s shoulder and tilted his head left.

The two left the volcano and were greeted by the last of the fighting.

“Where do they keep coming from!?” Jon shouted in irritation.

Damian pulled out his sword and Darga pulled out his own as well.

The two charge in.

“Sooooo, who’s magic boy?” Maya asked as she slid up beside Damian, the two fighting together like a well-oiled machine.

“Suran Darga, our former enemy,” Damian said as he cut off a man’s hand.

“What?” Mara hissed from somewhere behind him.

“He’s reformed now!” Damian defended.

“You’ve had like maybe one conversation with him!” Colin feels the need to add. He picks up some poor soul and throws them at another poor soul.

“It was a very long and heartfelt one for your information!” Damian feels his face heat up.

“I don't care how heartfelt it was! You can't just keep reforming your former enemies!” Mara stabs a man.

“Fucking watch me, cousin!” Damian kicks a woman in the stomach.

“I don't remember him doing this when he was still Redwings,” Jon commented idly. He laser eyes a few troops.

“And I don't remember you all being so nosey,” Damian mutters.

“So what now?” Colin asks as the six sit on a bench, hotdogs on the table between them. Jon makes a confused sound as he scarfs down his food.  
“Like, what are we gonna do with Magic boy?” Colin asks as he picks at his food.

“Cease calling me Magic boy this instant,” Suren snarled. Colin leaned over the table and looked Suren straight in the eye.

“No”

Suren lunged and Damian grabbed him by his shoulder as Jon did the same for Colin on the other side.

Colin smirked at Suren.

“What’s wrong Darga? Can't take a little heat?” Colin mocks

“We’ll see who can't take a little heat when I set you on fire!” Suren brings up his hand to fling fire at Colin but Damian grabs his hand before he can try it.

“Enough!” Damian glared darkly at the two before taking a deep breath.

“Suren, we don't set our allies on fire. And Colin, stop antagonizing Suren”

“Wow, Damian you sound like a total dad,” Jon comments as he finishes another hotdog.

“Not helping Jon,” Damian says with gritted teeth.

“So any way that’s why you should always escalate,” Mara tells Maya, completely ignoring the commotion happening on the other side of the table.

“Okay but let's say in this instance you really can't escalate things without killing everyone, what do you do then?” Maya puts her chin on the palms of her hands as she stares at Mara talking.

Damian elected to ignore them as they weren't the ones causing problems.

“Both of you sit down,” Damian ordered.

After a bit of glaring on both their parts, they finally sat down.

Damian let out a sigh of relief

-which was immediately ruined when a bunch of assassins appeared to try and surround them.

Damian resisted the urge to scream.

They all raised from the table, unanimously agreeing to kick the assassins' butt before returning to their meal.

They were disturbed from their plan however when all the assassins collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Everyone turned to look at Suren.

“Hey whoa, that wasn't me!” Suren was quick to reassure with raised hands.

Damian quirked an eyebrow.

“He’s telling the truth D, I can see an energy beam connecting from their bodies. It’s some kind of energy drain,” Maya tells him, the Nobody suit powered up and ready to go.

“Can you see where it leads?” Damian asks Maya.

“Yup, come on guys let's go,” Maya jumps up to her feet and the rest follow.

“So, I’ll fly beside you guys while the rest of you ride Goliath?”

“Good thinking Jon”

Maya led them to a clearing in the forest.

There was a trap door, and of course, everyone immediately tried running for it.

They crashed into a force field and were thrown back by it.

Suren’s laughter as he stood perfectly unharmed a few steps away from them made most of them want to rip him to shreds.

“If you think your tough shit why don't you try it Magic boy?” Colin jumped up from where he had been laid out on his back, speed walking towards the other boy.

Damian and Jon groaned before attempting to get up.

Colin stepped right up into Suren’s personal space glared straight into Suren’s eyes.

Suren glared right back before scoffing.

“Fucking watch me,” he hissed.

Suren walked towards the trap door, banishing the force field with a wave of his hand.

He opened the door and turned to look at Colin as though to show his superiority.

Everyone eventually got up and got back into gear.

They followed the beams to the man it was connected to.

Jon shot a laser at it while Maya shot an energy blast.

Smoke covered the room as they tried to see if he was dead or not.

“It can't be that easy,” Mara muttered.

The figure still standing proved Mara right.

“Father?” Suren asked, shocked still.

“Suren? Are you still alive? I suppose this only proves how much of an utter failure you are. I guess it’s right when everyone says that if you want something done properly you need to do it yourself,” the man, Den Darga sneered

“Whoa hold the fuck up magic man. I don't recall anyone giving you permission to talk to our teammate that way!” Colin jumped in before Suren could say anything.

“Yes, how utterly distasteful someone must have to be in order to throw their responsibilities on someone and still be disappointed when it doesn't work out,” Mara lifts her chin in challenge.

“Shut up you insolent children! I am Den Darga! The only one worthy to live on in the new world!”

“Hold still asshole so I can show just how “worthy” you are” Maya screamed from behind as she decked Den Darga.

Jon used freeze breath on the floor the man slipped, hard.

He grabbed hold of Suren and tried to pull him down with him.

Suren blasted the man’s hands off of him but Den threw him into the ground.

Colin, fully charged up, tackled the man to the ground.

“This fighting, it’s draining him!”

They all continued to utterly pound the man into the pavement.

“How is he still standing?!” Jon asks.

“The crystal, it’s a battery. We need to take it out before we can even attempt to take him down,” Mara tugs her sword out of the wall where it had briefly made its home.

“Suren! Can you redirect the flow?” Damian asks, shooting a cable into the crystal and getting ready for a world of pain.

“Meh?” Suren makes a "sorta" hand gesture.

“Yes or no?” Damian glares.

“yes,” Suren says hesitantly.

“Then redirect the current through me,” Damian ordered.

“Jon, Colin, Mara, keep Darga Sr. busy. Maya, I need you to help Suren and get ready to leave should things not go according to plan,” they all got into their positions.

After everyone was far away Suren turned to Damian.

“You do know it’ll kill you right?” Suren asked hesitantly.

“Does it look like I care?” Damian asked with raised eyebrows.

“I mean, no, but it’s customary to warn people,” Suren shrugged slightly and Damian smiled at him.

Suren got into position and extended his hand.

The next few minutes were filled with excruciating pain as Damian couldn't help but scream.

Suren watched sadly as Damian al Ghul’s body dropped dead to the floor.

“What- what did you do?” Mara ran forward and tried to cradle her cousin’s corpse against herself.

“I told him that he might die,” Suren tries to defend.

“And you did it anyway?!” Colin’s face was botched red in anger.

Jon fell to the floor, screaming.

His hands held tightly to his ears as he tried desperately to stop all the nOisE.

“Wait!” Maya called out. She pointed up and everyone but Jon looked up and saw a mass of spirits.

“I see him!” Colin tried to jump up and grab him but the spirits slipped through his fingers.

“Damian al Ghul! Return home, your people are waiting for your return!” Suren called out, trying to use his powers to direct the flow of one specific spirit.

Damian turned around, hearing all his family call out his name.

Suren pulled Damian in and Damian swam forward.

Suren gently put Damian back into his body and Damian woke up with a gasp.

“Four fucking times,” he hissed.

Mara stood in shock for a moment before tilting her head back and laughing.

The sound startled the rest into nerves, relieved laughter.

"Why is there a possum in the base?" Damian asks later on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter but I made this chapter extra long as an apology.
> 
> Here is a list of Surrey's powers  
> Can cut people with magic  
> Can mentally set things on fire  
> Can make explosion  
> Can make lightning  
> Can teleport  
> Direct the flow of spirits, which means he can technically bring people back to life (but only if they want it)


	15. Chapter 15

“Worthless scum!” Damian screamed at the corpse of the traitor. He pummeled his fists into the woman's face and continued cursing obscenities at her dead body. Suddenly arms enveloped him from behind, hugging him close.

“What’s wrong cousin?” Mara whispered in his ear. Damian collapsed in her arms, allowing himself a moment of comfort before tensing again.

“Grandfather knows I’m alive” Damian hissed.

“What?” Mara’s arms tighten slightly before loosening again.

“Did you not hear me clearly? Grandfather knows!” Damian shouted. As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. His cousin had done nothing to deserve his anger.

“Do not shout at me cousin, I deserve more than that from you,” Mara said coldly. Damian nodded his head in agreement.

“Of course, I apologize Mara, but you must understand the dangers that will come of this,” he pleaded his hand grasping at her arms.

“I know very well the dangers. But I also know that there is no success is without risk. I trust you cousin, do you trust me?” her voice was delicate, almost cautious and Damian cursed himself for ever putting such a note in his cousin’s voice.

“You know I do,” Damian assured. He felt Mara relax and knew that all was well between them for now.

“Then worry not, we shall simply have to accelerate our plans. I wish we had more time, but three years is more than enough if we play it smart,” Damian allowed a smile to grace his lips, three long years of secret rebellion was about to pay off after all.

“It will be nice to go outside without fear of being seen” Damian agreed. Mara pulled him up from the woman's dead body and led him away from the gruesome scene. She made a hand motion and one of the servants hurried to clean the hall.

“We shall rule together, like brother and sister” here Mara’s face took on a hopeful look that was almost physically painful for Damian to look at.

“I do not wish to rule the league anytime soon,” Damian whispered. Mara abruptly stopped.

“You wish to go back to Gotham again, don't you?” her tone accusatory.

“Yes,” Damian said softly. A bitter smile settling on his lips.

“Am I not good enough? Am I not family? Must you fill your heart with false allies that would not hesitate to toss you aside?” hissed Mara. her anger was justified in Damian’s eyes but wholly unnecessary.

“You are more family to me then my own mother is, more family than my father, then my ‘brothers’, then our grandfather. Do not doubt my love for you dear cousin, rather, doubt my love for my father. I will have my revenge one way or another, even if I have to kill myself in the prosses,” Mara’s nose scrunched up in distaste at the mention of Batman.

“Then let me join you, together we shall smite all that oppose us,” her words were earnest but Damian was not looking for earnest.

“No Mara, you will become the new Demon Head,” Damian said firmly, leading his cousin to their sitting room. It was better that they did not have this conversation where anyone could walk by and hear them.

“We will become the new Demon Head” the word we had a stubborn emphasis on it that, while appreciated, only made it harder to deny her.

“One day yes, but for now I am much more valuable outside of the league, taking care of threats that can not be traced back to the league. You know this, you are smart enough to understand the significance of such a thing,” time to appeal to her logical side. Even she knew the advantages of having a free, loyal, soldier outside the league that would carry out her orders without being connected back to her.

“And if you're able to get your vengeance in the downtime then that’s simply good time management,” Mara says with a weak smirk.

“Don't be saddened cousin, we will always be tied together. You need only to call for me and I shall answer,” Damian tried to comfort.  
The two sat in silence then. 

“Will you kill the replacement?” she finally asked. 

“I do not know,” Damian answered honestly. He really hadn't the foggiest idea of what to do about the boy. He was only thirteen at this point wasn't he? (the same age you died, the pit whispered)

“How can you not know?” Mara asked incredulously.

“It is not his fault my father betrayed me,” Damian shrugged.

“But he didn't refuse!” Mara was rather vindictive but her heart was in the right place.

“No, no he did not” the two sat in silence before Mara her mouth and spoke, once again proving that she was far too insightful for anyone's own good.

“The boy is not you, just because he wears your colors does not mean that he is you reborn,” and so she struck. Damian’s heart clenched as spikes of sharp pain attacked. The green crept in from the edges of his vision and the itch was ever-present but he pushed it down,

“No, I've got better hair” Damian joked faintly, hoping desperately that Mara would take mercy and allow the subject to drop.

“Perhaps,” his prayers had been answered.

“Perhaps? Perhaps?! Do you doubt me, cousin mine!?” 

“No more then I would doubt the sun rising from the west” a blatantly false statement to emphasize that she had absolutely no trust in his abilities, nice.

“Oh! Right in the heart! Betrayal, betrayal I say!” the two carried on their game of dramatics before it was time for Mara to check in with the soldiers. Damian had done so yesterday and so he had a chance for the night off now.

Damian stood up from his chair and walked towards his quarters without a backwards glance.

Mara’s fortress had been her father’s. It wasn't as big as Damian’s or his mother’s fortress but it had done an admirable job in hiding the rebellion.

As he walked to his chambers he allowed his thoughts to wander.

He wondered what it said about him that he was angrier at a random child than his father, the man who was really at fault.

Objectively, Damian knew that ‘Tim Drake’ had not wronged him, but emotionally he just wanted to gut the bastard.

The bastard that was also thirteen years old.

So, instead of meeting the new Redwings he would simply stay as far away from him as possible.

He would only attack his father when the boy was not around.

Besides, he still had a long awaited conversation with Signal that would need to be taken care of eventually.

For instance, how were his animals?

As soon as he had been brought back to life Goliath had found him and the two had been together ever since, but what of Batcow? How was Alfred the cat? Titus?

And maybe, if he could get Thomas to tell him how his animals reacted to Drake he could finally make a decision regarding the boy.

His animals were great judges of characters after all.

Just look at Damian, proof of their good taste clearly.

Damian entered his room and was immediately accosted by Goliath.

“Ree?” Goliath questioned. Damian didn’t bother trying to get out of his arms. Instead, he settled down and started to pet at the Dragon bat.

“Soon my friend, soon we shall return home,” Damian didn't bother wondering about the implications of Gotham still being considered home in his mind. The city was a shit hole and the less said about it the better.


	16. Chapter 16

It was done. 

Together Damian and Mara had finally killed their grandfather. Ra’s al Ghul was dead.

The battle was glorious. Mara lost an arm and Damian’s spine was fucked but together the two had overcome their final obstacle.

“So how do you feel about getting him a good old fashioned League funeral?” Mara says with humor. Damian chokes on a laugh, pain laces his body at the sudden movement but it does nothing to diminish the comedic gold that was burning Ra’s body like he was a nameless soldier.

“I think he’d appreciate it,” Damian replies, a vindictive smile stretching across his face. 

Damian lays still on the ground looking up at the ceiling as Mara sits beside him. 

They’re both injured beyond belief, but they're alive. Mara held her dismembered limb in her hand as she morbidly tried to reattach it.

“Stop that,” Damian says, annoyed.

“Stop that” Mara mocks back. 

“Oh for fucks sake,” Damian rolls his eyes as Mara roars with laughter.

“Heh, we should probably get to the pit,” Mara finally says after she stops giggling.

“My spine is broken, I can't move,” Damian’s tone exasperated.

“I’ll carry you,” Mara says simply. Damian gives her a look.

“You don't have a hand” he tries to reason.

“You think that’ll stop me?” Mara cocks a brow and Damian already knows what's about to happen.

“Well it would certainly stop a sane person” he shoots back.

“Good thing I’m not sane. Neither are you for that matter, why are you complaining?” Mara asks in confusion.

“Because I don't fancy getting my head cracked open when you inevitably drop me!” Damian shouts.

“I won't drop you!” Mara shouts back defensively.

“Lies!” 

“You know what, now I’m gonna have to prove it, hold my hand” Mara then hands Damian her severed hand. Damian scrambles to keep it from falling from his grip as Mara uses her functional hand to push Damian up in a sitting position. Damian screams as Mara tries to shush him.

“Don't shush me woman!”

“Don't shout at me! I’m getting a little stressed,” Mara says anxiously.

After Damian was in a sitting position Mara puts her hand under his knee and heaves him up. His back to her front and her one hand under him.

“Please remove your hand from my ass,” Damian tells her with a bite in his voice.

“Please stop being such a pussy,” Mara sasses back.

And so the two make their way towards the Lazarus pits.

Mara’s arm trembles under Damian’s weight but she refuses to admit that he might have been right.

Plus, it’s not like she could ask for help anyway. If they displayed even the faintest bits of weakness then they’d be killed.

Her most trusted assassins were guarding Ra’s body, for now, they could focus on healing themselves.

Once they enter the pits Mara rushes to the waters. Just a few steps away however she accidentally drops Damian.

“Ow!” he shouts. Mara winces and already knows that after this mess was done with, she’d be given the longest lecture that would basically amount to ‘I told you so’. She huffs a bit.

“I’m sorry” Mara whines.

“Fuck you!” Damian screams in response, which was fair.

Mara takes her arm from Damian’s hands and sets it aside. She then proceeds to roll Damian into the water.

Damian curses her all the while.

With a nice little plop, Damian drops into the pit. Mara picks up her hand and holds it against the stump that her dear Grandfather had gifted her.

She steps into the water and ducks down into it until it submerges her completely.

Her arm burns as her limb reattaches itself together.

She lets out a scream but water enters her mouth and chokes her. She flails helplessly until a hand grabs her by her waist and pulls her up.

She breaks through the water with a gasp.

Damian swims the two back to solid ground and throws her onto the ground before pulling himself up as well.

Mara shivers uncontrollably. Her arm still burns but it was attached.

She experimentally moved it. She suppressed the wheeze of pain that wanted to escape.

She grits her teeth as she clenches and unclenches her fist over and over again. She finally stops after she finally feels like she’s gotten used to the pain and can move past it.

She looks up and sees Damian stretching himself out with a pained expression. She feels a well of pity burst through her. She pushes it aside though. Her cousin had no need for her pity.

“Are you ready?” Mara asks.

“Yes,” Damian says with a grunt.

The two quickly run back to the throne room.

Once they enter they thankfully see Ra’s cooling body still there. Both Mara and Damian let out a breath of relief.

They quickly call out a meeting with the rest of their forces.

They go out to the courtyard where their army stands proudly, waiting for their orders.

“My friends, remember this moment for we have just made history! We have finally defeated the insane tyrant Ra’s! Together we have done what was once thought to be impossible, we have killed an immortal, a god, a demon!” Mara shouts to her people. Damian stands beside her, holding the body of their grandfather, holding proof of their triumph. Mara gives Damian a look and Damian nods in agreement. He clears his throat and begins.

“My cousin and I have killed the former Demon Head, to make sure that he stays as the former, we shall give him a soldier's funeral!” jeers and laughs come from the crowd at Damian’s words. Damian smirks at their reaction before continuing.

“My cousin shall become the new Demon’s head and I shall be the heir. If any have a problem with this arrangement, come forward now,” Damian calls out. The assassins mutter in confusion. This had never been done before, even before Ra’s death, Damian had been the heir. Why wasn't he the Demon Head?

No one voices their complaint though and the speech continues, this time with only Mara talking, Damian stood beside her, a comforting but silent companion.


	17. Chapter 17

Damian silently packed his bags. He took out his sword, weighed in his hands, then put it back into its sheath.

“So you're really going,” Mara says from behind him, it was less a question and more a statement.

“My work is done. I have stayed with you for as long as it took to cement your claim and build the league back up. I will, of course, continue to do so, but now I will do so from America,” Damian reassures her.

“It’s only been a year,” Mara says stubbornly.

“It only took a year to fix all the immediate problems,” Damian shrugs.

“I need you here” there was a type of vulnerability in Mara’s voice that made Damian want to bow down to her whims and put down his bags. He couldn't though, he just couldn't.

“No, you want me here” Damian sighs, sitting down on his bed for the lengthy conversation that was about to take place.

“Can it not be both?” Mara asks.

“Mara, I promise you, you will do well. You do not need me to help you rule. At this point, my staying will only weaken your claim. The people need to see you as the strong ruler you are without me there to cast doubt,” Damian reasons.

“The people also need to see their strong heir” Mara snaps back, pacing back and forward.

“And they have” Damian points out.

“It’s not enough,” Mara brings her hands up to her face and rubs her temple.

“It’s never enough. But Mara, this is my choice,” Damian says softly, snatching Mara by the waist and pulling her towards him when she paced a little too close. He hugs her close to him and waits until she’s stopped trying to get out of his hold.

“Fine, fine, you win. But if someone hurts even a hair on your head you will call me,” Mara compromises.

“That will be unnecessary,” Damian answers. He scoots up the bed so that Mara could sit more comfortably in his lap. Mara wiggles slightly before leaning back against Damian.

“Damian,” Mara says firmly.

“Mara” Damian mocked.

“Damian” this time she said his name with a dangerous note and Damian knew he had to concede.

“Very well” he bows out of the fight, accepting her terms.

The two sit in silence

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to go back when you're still considered a minor in their country?”

“It’s better this way,”

“How? Wayne will have control of you for as long as you’re still underaged,”

“But it will make me more sympathetic to the masses,”

“Not everything can be about manipulating the masses. Sometimes some things are too risky. Plus, weren't you going to avoid the boy? If you live with your father you will hardly be able to do as such,” there was no need to clarify which boy Mara was speaking about.

“I think you underestimate how great I am at hiding from those I live with. I did it for years with mother and Grandfather,” the truth was that every second he spent away from Gotham was a second too long. Something in that shithole of a city called for him. It drew him in and held him close. He didn't think he would be able to stand another year apart from it. Seven years away had strengthened the need and he knew that even the prospect of Tim Drake could not keep him away.

“That was different,” Mara broke him out of his thoughts.

“How?” Damian questioned.

“Well for one neither were ever too overly interested in where you were as long as you answered their summons,” Mara sneered.

“It will be the same,” Damian tried to reassure.

“No, it will not! Wayne will hold you in a cell and call it kindness as he attempts to test and test your loyalties! He will throw you right into Arkame when you inevitably fail and I will have to be the one to pick up all the pieces!” Mara shouts.

“But that’s the brilliance of my plan. He can't do that. I will make my return public and force him to let me go free because the alternative would be questions! Questions he can't comfortably answer,” Damian says with excitement, ready to show off the greatness of his plan.

“You think too highly of yourself cousin,” Mara warns.

“And you don't think highly enough,” Damian teases, a light bit of real arrogance coloring his tone.

Mara gave a cold laugh in response. 

Gotham was as cold and dreary as he remembered it. It was drizzling as gray clouds hung heavy overhead. 

Damian hated it.

Damian loved it.

He shrugged off his backpack and hid it in the hidden crevasse he had found and used often when he had been Redwings. It had been the one place his father had never thought to look. Damian had no doubt that Bruce would eventually come sniffing around but for now, it would do.

Damian took out his dagger, and without hesitation, stabbed himself in the gut. 

He had spent months layering new and old bruises as well as scars on his skin. Mara had been furious when she learned but had been unable to stop his “madness”

Damian stubbled forward. 

Now all he had to do was get to the police station a few blocks away.

When Damian came to he was immediately assaulted by bright lights and the sharp scent of sanitizer.

Perfect. He was right where he wanted to be.

Damian contorted his body and made himself scream at the pain tugging in his stomach.

He had made sure to miss any vital organs by just the tiniest bit so no permanent damage would be done but it still hurt and he still needed others to know it hurt.

A team of nurses and cops broke through the door, panic visible on their faces.

Cute.

Eventually, the nurses and doctors were able to help him and the pain faded to the back of his mind.

Damian snags the uniform of a cop trying to get out the door. He holds on urgently and looks up into the eyes of the woman with desperation in his eyes.

“Did you catch them?” Damian rasps, already aware that they had not. 

Can't catch what isn't there.

“Who?” the woman asks, sincerity clear, she really wanted to help him. How rare that was to find in a shit hole like Gotham.

“Did you catch them?” Damian repeats, the picture of hysteria and panic. 

“I-”

“Get out! Cant, you see you're upsetting the patient?” a doctor says, shouting at the poor woman.

Two days later and his cover story is given and bought. Everyone in Gotham now knows about the tragedy that befell rich boy Damian Wayne.

Damian lounges in his hospital bed, smug and satisfied as he clicks from news channel to news channel.

“Your move father,” Damian whispers to the shadows of the room, not looking away from the screen.

The flapping of a cape answers him.


	18. Chapter 18

Tim was kind of in awe. He’d always known that Damian Wayne was great, he’d be an idiot not to, but this was some next-level shit.

The original Redwings had just publicly challenged Batman. 

Most civilians wouldn't be able to tell, but anyone that knew Bruce was Batman was in utter admiration of the former boy wonder. 

Duke had laughed his ass off before snidely telling Bruce that this was what he got for being a shit dad.

He then proceeded to go on an interview and express his delight at his “brother’s” safe return. He went on to say in that same interview that it was too bad Batman was such a shit detective that he couldn't even tell the difference between a dead body and a live one.

Tim was kind of in awe of Duke too.

Bruce spent the entire time Damian was in the hospital looking for dirt on his former Sidekick. He searched everywhere for some kind of clue that would get Damian put in jail and Bruce unattached.

The entire superhero community was one part scandalized and one part terrified. 

Hal Jordan commented that it was nice to have the former Redwings back and ready to ruin Batman’s day.

Barry Allen looked nervously at Tim's camera and refused to comment.

Diana Prince said that Bruce must be overjoyed to have his son back to the safety of Gotham, she, however, whispered to Tim when they were alone that he would need to be careful of Damian’s temper.

Clark Kent called Bruce to tell him to get his son under control because he had already somehow convinced Jon to go back to Gotham.

The limit to Bruce’s patience came when a bunch of unknowns entered Gotham and demanded to be brought to Damian’s bedside. They claimed to be his “friends”

No one believed it for a second until Damian himself granted them entry.

Bruce had blown a casket, Duke had never looked more confused, and Alfred raised an eyebrow that to anyone else might have just meant polite disinterest but was actually the equivalent of Alfred gasping.

Tim learned quickly that Damian apparently didn't have friends. 

In fact, when Jon said that the two had been in contact for years and had even been friends before Damian’s unfortunate death no one believed him.

That was, of course, until Damian invited the super up into his room by name.

Not even Bruce was allowed up there!

There were a total of five people that were allowed visitation rights.

Jon Kent, Maya Ducard, Suren Darga, Colin Wilkes, and Duke Thomas.

Bruce had burst a vein when he found out just who was visiting his wayward son.

Tim hadn’t understood the implications until he did some research.

Jon Kent was easy, he was Superboy.

Duke Thomas was Signal.

And Colin Wilkes was Abuse.

The last one had been a bitch to find out but Tim hacked through the servers and was able to quickly find out. He’d never personally met Abuse but Duke had said good things about the other boy.

Maya Ducard was another matter entirely. She went by Nobody and was an antihero that had close ties to the League of Assassins. 

Tim wondered if Damian had met her before or after he died.

Suren Darga was the strangest one all things considered. His family had been long time enemies of the al Ghuls but apparently, the boy had joined the ranks a few years prior and was now considered a close friend of Damian’s.

It just didn't make any sense!

Why were they here? Did all of them know that Damian had come back to life? Did goodie boy Jon know? Did Duke?

Then, it hit him.

Damian Wayne was making a team.

Damian Wayne was making a team of superhumans and/or talented fighters.

Damian Wayne was making a team of superhumans and/or talented fighters to take down Batman!

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.

Tim stood up.

He needed to talk with Duke.

======

“Are you sure you want to do this? Father will most likely never forgive you,” Damian asked seriously, concern for his comrade and the need for revenge warring inside of him.

“Bruce doesn't own me Damian. I can make my own decisions. Now, where do I sign?” Duke told him as he held out a pen with a cocky smirk.

“Can't believe Dad had the audacity to say I was keeping secrets from him when I told him for three months straight that Damian was alive!” Jon complains to Colin. Colin pats his back solemnly.

“I can't believe that your Dad is letting you stay in Gotham for so long” Colin comments.

“He’s dealing with a clone or something,” Jon says with a shrug.

“Damian held tightly to his blade as he slept in the way most children held stuffed animals” Mara mocks from the screen.

“I will gut you”

“So, your cousin’s pretty great,” Maya says dreamily as she looks at the dark screen that Mara al Ghul had facetimed them on.

“I will most certainly not be your wingman,” Damian says drily, already planning a wedding in his head.

“I can't believe that you weren't even cold in the ground before he shoved some poor defenseless kid into your shitty costume. I think the biggest offense of it all is they let that suit touch the light of day again at all. They should have burned it with you and called it a day instead of letting that crime against fashion continue to terrorize our poor eyes,” Suren tells Damian as he picks at his fingernails.

“Bold words from a man that wears a skull as a mask,” Damian replies as he switches channels.

“It’s called aesthetic!”

“I think you're the third most trashiest thing here,” Suren tells Colin one evening.

“Only third?” Colin blinks, tilting his head.

“Don't get cocky,” Suren snarks.

“I’m so powerful that I’m able to sustain myself on pure fucking sunshine alone. Photosynthesis bitch” Jon boasts.

“That is not at all how your powers work,” Maya says drily.

“The only thing cooler than this is the desert,” Mara tells Duke one day.

“Everything is cooler than a desert” Duke sighs, hand pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Exactly,” Mara says smugly.

“Because unlike some people, I don't spend my time punching the mentally ill and desperate” Suren sneers at Colin.

“Well, I wouldn't need to if they stopped killing people! You make it sound like I just go out and punch sad people and not actual murderers,” Colin says, rolling his eyes.

“Excuse you! I’ll have you know that I am a murderer,” Suren says, his voice colored with offense.

“Is this you giving me a pass to punch you?” Colin asked, very much considering doing just that.

“I swear to god-”

=====

“Hey Timbers,” Duke greets warmly.

“Did you know that Damian was alive all this time?” Tim asks instead of returning the greeting.

“What? No,” Duke’s eyebrows furrowing together.

“Did you really agree to join a team made by Damian as a way for him to get revenge?” Tim questions, a burning curiosity visible in his eyes.

“How did you even-?”

“Are your plans going to seriously injure Bruce or kill him?” Tim asks seriously.

“What? God no!” Duke says, alarmed.

“Okay, thanks that's all I wanted to know. Have a nice day!”

“No wait, get back- and he’s gone,” Duke pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Damian’s going to kill me,” Duke whines to empty air.


End file.
